Youssef Zalal sees massive 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 completed all 5 of his UFC opponents, most lately submitting Bryce Mitchell at UFC 314. Meanwhile, Lopes is coming off a title loss to featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski on the same evening.
As he seems to be to enter the title image 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 advised 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 working to combat 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) does not occur, and he goes and finishes Diego – but also, Diego goes and finishes him, that might give him a second combat. You never know. … I really feel like it relies upon on who sells more, this and that. I do not know. This is the combat sport, and that’s what makes it so lovely.”
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