Overview
- Lopes confirmed Thursday that he will make a full-time move from featherweight (145 lbs) to lightweight (155 lbs) and said he is in advanced talks with the UFC about his next fight.
- He told Ag. Fight he wants to compete in November at Madison Square Garden and that negotiations could be finalized soon for the UFC 334 card.
- The UFC raised Arman Tsarukyan as an option but Lopes said that matchup is unlikely because Tsarukyan is already booked for UFC 331.
- Charles Oliveira has been discussed as a possible opponent, though his return timetable is uncertain following the death of his teammate Allan Nascimento.
- The decision follows Lopes’s recent come-from-behind KO of Steve Garcia and two earlier title losses to Alexander Volkanovski, a sequence that makes a fresh path at 155 more appealing than an immediate rematch.