Top featherweight contender Diego Lopes bounced back in his first fight since his loss to Alexander Volkanovski, scoring a dramatic second-round TKO victory over a furious Jean Silva in the UFC Noche main event on Sunday.
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Lopes was outpointed by Volkanovski at UFC 314 earlier in the year as the Australian claimed the vacant featherweight title, while Silva catapulted himself up the rankings earlier that night with a statement knockout against Bryce Mitchell.
Sunday’s main event presented a chance for Silva to further cement his position as a featherweight force on the rise given Lopes’ standing as a former title challenger, but it was No. 2 ranked contender who made the much better start.
In fact, Lopes looked on the verge of getting the finish early in the first round as Silva went for a spinning kick but missed before being taken to the mat.
Lopes was quickly above to move to mount and continued to pound away at a scrambling Silva with some brutal elbows.
It was a precarious position for Silva, but one he was eventually able to break free from before landing a few nice left hooks to close out what was otherwise a dominant first round for Lopes.
Still, it was clear that Silva was a threat of finishing the fight at any moment even on the backfoot given his superior striking.
Silva was landing some big right hands early in the second round too but the fight took a sudden turn when a spinning elbow sent him down and Lopes was quick to capitalise, rushing in with a flurry of shots that left the referee with no choice but to step in.
Silva was adamant it was an early stoppage and had to be held back by security at one point as he threatened to go after Lopes.
“He punches him while he’s going away. Silva’s not having the stoppage,” former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz said in commentary.
However, Silva only had himself to blame after putting Lopes in a vulnerable position only to impatiently go after a wild exchange that left himself open to being countered.
“That was a good stoppage,” Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier said in commentary, adding that Silva was “holding onto the fence to even be alive” and had been “overzealous” in “throwing away the game plan” late in the second round.
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