Diego Lopes and Yair Rodriguez had some heated altercations during the final press conference prior to UFC 314 in April, and it appears the promotion was aiming to book them up for a featherweight clash at this year’s Noche UFC event.
UFC 320, also known as Noche UFC 3, was expected to take place in Guadalajara, Mexico, on Sept. 13. However, due to constructions delays with the Guadalajara venue, UFC 320 was moved to Oct. 4 in Las Vegas and the Sept. 13 Noche UFC event is now set for San Antonio. On Sunday, Lopes claimed in a social media post that Rodriguez turned down an offer to face him at the Sept. 13 show.
“Hey, Yair Rodríguez, I just realized that you received a call from Hunter [Campbell] and refused to fight me at Noche UFC,” Lopes wrote in Spanish. “Where is the man who was in front of me at the press conference?”
Lopes was days away from challenging Alexander Volkanovski for the vacant title, a fight he lost via decision. Rodriguez defeated former Bellator two-division champion Patricio Pitbull on that same card and hoped he would be next for Volkanovski.
Rodriguez released a video hours after Lopes’ comments with a response, in which he confirmed he was approached with an offer and explained why “that doesn’t make sense to me.”
“Right now I’m on the way to support Ignacio Bajamondes in his next fight, I’m heading to Baku,” Rodriguez said, “and well, as always, this damn sport is really hard, honestly. I’d love it—I really would love it—if things were a bit different, because everything has turned into a circus. Honestly. I saw somewhere that that a****** Diego Lopes is saying I don’t want to fight him, and that’s absolutely not the case. Honestly, I was a little disappointed with the UFC for the fact that they offered me a fight with him because yeah, they did recently offer me that fight.
“Let’s rewind a bit. What happened? When I had the opportunity to fight Diego, he said no because I was coming off a loss. Now he’s coming off a loss and wants to fight me. That doesn’t make sense to me. That’s one thing. Another thing is, obviously, I’ve got no problem fighting him. If you ask me, I’d rather fight him in the damn street, because for me, a fight with him in the company doesn’t do anything. They’re not going to pay me more. It doesn’t do a damn thing. It doesn’t put me in a better position either because he’s coming off a loss.”
On top of that, Rodriguez, a one-time UFC interim featherweight titleholder, revealed he needs to renew his visa to enter the United States, and also deal with an injury for which a doctor recommended surgery.
“Obviously, I’m doing everything I can to avoid that being the case,” Rodriguez said. “But hey, we’ll see where this whole situation takes me—to clarify, that’s my position. I haven’t turned down the fight. On the contrary, I’d be more than happy to fight this little piece of shit and his whole shitty team that’s sitting around over there. And that’s it, right? Just want people to understand my position, because obviously they’re starting to go on the attack, and well—as always—attacking someone when they’re down, when they’re hurt, is real easy. Right? But anyway, that’s that. I’m going to first check on my health, see if I can avoid surgery as much as possible. If not, well, I’ll have to go through with it.”
In the meantime, Rodriguez advised Lopes to book a fight with rising featherweight sensation Jean Silva, who destroyed Bryce Mitchell on the same card in Miami.
“For now, I’d like to see Diego stop running away from Jean Silva and go take a swing at him,” Rodriguez said. “If he’s so eager for a fight, then go throw down with Jean Silva, because it looks like he’s ducking him. And well, I’m still here. Waiting to see what they tell me.”
Lopes fired back with another post on social media moments later, debunking the claim that he has turned down a previous UFC fight with the Mexican star.
“What a stupid thing to say I refused to fight,” Lopes wrote on Instagram Stories. “The fight was already scheduled to be the main event of UFC Mexico in February. I had accepted, while you were just going around in circles. The UFC changed plans and called me to fight for the title. Fighting in the street? No, bro, I don’t recommend that. I’m too calm because I know what I’m capable of. It’s better to have a referee involved.”
“Let’s get to the facts,” he added on a separate post on X. “After the fight against Volk, the UFC contacted me asking how my health was. I told them all the recommendations the doctors gave me. That I would be ready to fight in September. They offered Aaron Pico, I said yes. Two days later, they offered me Jean Silva, I said yes. When the UFC moves the UFC night to Santo Antonio. Yair Rodriguez, I said yes. I also suggested offering the fight against Movsar [Evloev] or Lerone [Murphy]. If you have any doubts, ask Dana, Hunter, or Sean if I’ve ever turned down a fight. The day I turn down or don’t accept a fight, it has to be because of a very serious health issue or because I’m truly unable to fight. My career was built on accepting fights; I have 32 professional fights for a reason.”
