Diego
Lopes believes we might see a massive upset in the
UFC Freedom 250 main event—and he is willing to explain
why.
As Ilia
Topuria (17-0) looks to defend his lightweight title against
interim champion Justin
Gaethje (27-5) in the headliner of the UFC White House card on
June 14, he figures to enter the Octagon as a 5-to-1 favorite or
greater. Lopes initially favored Topuria, but claims he has changed
his mind recently and is pulling for Gaethje to pull off the upset
he feels is more of a possibility than most observers will admit.
Lopes, who is scheduled to open up the event in a featherweight
tilt with Steve
Garcia, told Ariel Helwani:
“99% of the people think Topuria takes the win, I thought so before
too. But now I jumped to Gaethje’s side. Because this is like a car
crash. In a car crash there 50-50 [chance]. Gaethje has heavy
hands. I hope Justin Gaethje surprises everyone and me too.”
Lopes also believes Topuria has yet to face a knockout artist of
Gaethje’s caliber. Topuria is coming off knockout wins over legends
in Alexnader Volkanovski, Max
Holloway and Charles
Oliveira, but Lopes noted that Volkanovski and Holloway are not
one-punch knockout artists, while Oliveira hits hard but lacks
timing. However, Lopes believes Gaethje is different and can put
Topuria to sleep with a big shot:
“[Ilia’s] fight with Volk – Volk is a great opponent, he’s so
smart, but he doesn’t have a lot of powerful knockouts. Charles
Oliveira, he has power, but he doesn’t connect like Topuria.
Max
Holloway, same thing, he is not the guy to knock people out
with just one punch. Justin
Gaethje is different; he can knock people out with just that
one big punch.”
UFC Freedom 250 takes place this Sunday on the south lawn of the
White House in Washington, D.C. The seven-fight card is headlined
by a lightweight title unification bout between Topuria and
Gaethje, while Alex
Pereira and Ciryl Gane
are scheduled to fight for the interim heavyweight belt in the
co-main event.