Demetrious Johnson questions UFC’s decision to give Diego Lopes another title shot.
Lopes (27-7 MMA, 6-2 UFC) lost to Alexander Volkanovski in their vacant featherweight title fight at UFC 314. He rebounded with a knockout of Jean Silva at UFC Fight Night 259, which earned him another shot at Volkanovski (27-4 MMA, 14-3 UFC) in the UFC 325 headliner on Jan. 31 from Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney (Paramount+).
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With undefeated contenders Lerone Murphy and Movsar Evloev vying for their opportunity, Lopes was not the right choice in Johnson’s eyes.
“You had the opportunity to fight for the belt. You lost. It was four (rounds to) one. I feel everybody feels comfortable saying that,” Johnson said of Lopes on his YouTube channel. “I felt Alex Volkanovski won that fight in dominant fashion. Then Diego Lopes goes on to beat Jean Silva. He gets rocked there. It’s a back-and-forth fight. It was a war. It’s one fight, and he gets the opportunity to have another title shot. Now is it because he’s very popular? Is it because he sells a lot of tickets? I don’t know.
“But are we doing this for popularity, or are we doing this because somebody is better? That is where I like to question the legitimacy of this thing we call a ‘sport.’ That’s why I always say it’s not a sport. It is pick and choose. ‘I’m going to push this athlete because he has a market that I want to infiltrate, he has a market that we haven’t been able to get our foot in or our roots in, and we’re not really worried about that.’ That’s fine. Just let me know that.”
Johnson also pointed to Sean O’Malley‘s immediate title-fight rematch against Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 316 as an example of the promotion trying to push particular fighters.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Demetrious Johnson: Diego Lopes title shot proof UFC’s ‘not a sport’
