The rivalry between Diego Lopes and Jean Silva led to an epic battle in Saturday’s main event at Noche UFC, but it also spilled over into the immediate aftermath of the fight.
Lopes (27-7 MMA, 6-2 UFC) had his hand raised following an action-packed encounter in which he stopped Silva (16-3 MMA, 5-1 UFC) late in the second round. The two had clashed in the lead-up to the fight, and tempers boiled over when Silva disagreed with referee ’s decision to stop the bout.
“After the [finish], Jean hit me in the back of my head. I said, ‘What happened?’” Diego Lopes recounted on the Noche UFC post-fight show. “I said, ‘I don’t know.’ After this, this guy tried to be nice with me. I cannot understand. Are you trying to be my friend? Go to your side. This guy hit me in the back of my head. I think this is not nice.”
Lopes revealed that Silva’s team had gotten under his skin during fight week. The trash talk between the camps pushed the former featherweight title challenger to vent his frustrations at the end of the fight, leaping onto the cage and giving double middle fingers to the Fighting Nerds corner team.
“This guy talked a lot in the fight,” Lopes said. “I’m so calm. I’m not talking. I told everyone, I’ll talk in the Octagon. After the fight, I go to your corner, I told your coaches, ‘Put more respect on my name,’ because leading up to the fight, this guy commented, he talked shit in the post on social media.”
Lopes dominated the opening round, cutting Silva open with vicious elbows from the mounted position. In round two, he weathered an early storm before dropping Silva with a perfectly executed spinning elbow and finishing the fight with brutal ground-and-pound.
“I prepared a lot for this fight,” Lopes said. “I told everyone all week, ‘I’m coming, guys,’ but I do my talking in the Octagon. I tell you, this game has levels. Today, I showed everyone this game has levels.
“After he started connecting with a couple of punches, he had more confidence to try for the knockout. But I know, after this, every time this guy is a little bit exposed. He attacks so long, he’s a little bit exposed for the spinning back elbow. I trained this backstage with my coach and my training partners, too. I’m so grateful to my team for this perfect game plan.”
