Sodiq Yusuff will look to stop the advancing newcomer, Diego Lopes’ second chance of breaking into the rankings when the two meet at UFC 300.
The colossal card is set to take place on April 13th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, with the UFC looking like they are about to deliver one of the most memorable cards to date.
Diego Lopes was undoubtedly one of the breakthrough fighters of 2023. With 29 bouts under his belt, you’d be forgiven for thinking he may be on the back nine of his career but at only 29 years old, he still has very much left to give.
Joining the professional ranks in 2012, Lopes learnt his craft on the local Brazilian scene. Five fights into his professional career and holding a mediocre 3-2 record, the Brazilian went on a tear. A 9 fight win streak, which included 7 first round finishes led to Lopes’ first chance to compete outside of South America when he featured on ACB 78. It was not to be for Lopes that night but he was straight back to winning ways and established an impressive seven fight win streak following the ACB defeat. This led to his first chance to sign with the UFC, with a bout on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2021.
Joanderson Brito was the victor that night and the loss on the Contender Series led to Lopes heading to the second two fight skid of his career, setting him even further back from his ultimate goal. Not to be deterred, it took Lopes only two stoppage victories before the UFC came calling once more.
In his promotional debut, Lopes faced the still undefeated Movsar Evloev at UFC 288. It was clear the UFC wanted to see just where Lopes sat in the Featherweight division, with Evloev already being 6 fights deep in the promotion by the time he met Lopes. It was a valiant effort from the Brazilian but Evloev proved to be too much and took a unanimous decision win.
The UFC knew they had a talent on their hands so Lopes found himself matched just three months later against Gavin Tucker. Ready to make his mark on the UFC stage, Lopes tied up an extremely slick armbar which led to a finish just 98 seconds into the contest.
Looking to build on his win as soon as possible, Lopes made the walk once more before the end of the year. Savage strikes 90 seconds into his bout against Pat Sabatini cemented Lopes’ second victory with the promotion.
Sodiq Yusuff found himself in the UFC just two years after joining the professional ranks. Establishing a 6-1 record, ‘Super’ featured on the 2018 season of the Contender Series. After a unanimous decision victory against Mike Davis, Yusuff racked up four victories against Suman Mokhtarian, Sheymon Moraes, Gabriel Benitez and Andre Fili before facing Arnold Allen in the co-main event of UFC on ABC 2: Vettori vs Holland.
In an entertaining contest, Yusuff pushed the pace late on but Allen had already done enough to steal the first two rounds and ‘Super’ was handed his first defeat since signing with the UFC.
After 11 months away, Yusuff returned to the fold against Alex Caceres in the March of 2022. Finding himself in the win column once more, Yusuff rode to a unanimous decision win and looked to be back in a big way. His next assignment should’ve been Giga Chikadze but following an injury to the Georgian, Yusuff had to wait until October, when he faced Don Shainis.
Showing his worth, ‘Super’ submitted Shainis in just 30 seconds with a tight guillotine choke; this then led to a contest against UFC legend Edson Barboza. Barboza has left many an opponent on the wrong side of a highlight reel finish; it looked as though Yusuff was going to nullify this threat early doors with a thoroughly dominant opening round. Unfortunately for him, the veteran grew into the contest and ultimately took the unanimous decision victory.
Yusuff vs Lopes is just yet another extremely intriguing matchup for UFC 300, a card which appears to be getting stronger and stronger with every announcement.
