Youssef Zalal sees big implications in the featherweight bout between Diego Lopes and Jean Silva at Noche UFC.
Lopes (26-7 MMA, 5-2 UFC) takes on Silva (16-2 MMA, 5-0 UFC) on Sept. 13 in the UFC Fight Night 259 headliner from Frost Bank Center in San Antonio (ESPN+). Silva has finished all five of his UFC opponents, most recently submitting Bryce Mitchell at UFC 314. Meanwhile, Lopes is coming off a title loss to featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski on the same night.
As he looks to enter the title picture himself when he takes on Josh Emmett at UFC 320 on Oct. 4 in Las Vegas, Zalal (17-5-1 MMA, 7-3-1 UFC) broke down the matchup between Lopes and Silva.
“That’s a tough fight,” Zalal told MMA Junkie. “I don’t know – Jean Silva sounds very confident he’s going to finish this fight. But obviously Diego is really durable, and willing to go into the fire, so he’s very dangerous. I know he’s been training a lot of wrestling so, we might see something different in this fight as well. So I’m excited. If I had paper wise, I’d probably say Jean. I don’t know. I’ll be watching, that’s all I know.”
Lerone Murphy (17-0-1 MMA, 9-0-1 UFC) is also in the running to fight Volkanovski (27-5 MMA, 14-4 UFC) after knocking out Aaron Pico earlier this month at UFC 319. But can Silva leapfrog Murphy with a win over Lopes?
“If he finishes Diego, yes,” Zalal said. “I almost guarantee you right now he gets a title shot. If (a Murphy fight announcement) doesn’t happen in the next couple of weeks and they book it, I guarantee you Sept. 13, which is what? Three weeks from now?
“If (Volkanovski vs. Murphy) doesn’t happen, and he goes and finishes Diego – but also, Diego goes and finishes him, that might give him a second fight. You never know. … I feel like it depends on who sells more, this and that. I don’t know. This is the fight game, and that’s what makes it so beautiful.”
