Diego Lopes is getting another shot to crack into the featherweight top 15.
On Wednesday, UFC announced that Lopes will fight Sodiq Yusuff on the prelims of UFC 300, which is set to go down on April 13 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Lopes earned MMA Fighting’s 2023 Rookie of the Year honors, after a sensational year in UFC. Kicking things off with a short-notice debut against Movsar Evloev where Lopes lost a competitive decision that won Fight of the Night, the 29-year-old featherweight followed that up with back-to-back Performance bonuses for first-round wins over Gavin Tucker and Pat Sabatini. Also a prominent coach in MMA, this is Lopes’s chance to earn a UFC ranking and begin making moves towards a title shot.
Yusuff, on the other hand, had a disappointing 2023. Competing only once last year, Yusuff lost a unanimous decision to Edson Barboza at UFC Vegas 81, though he did also take home Fight of the Night honors. The lost left Yusuff at to No. 12 on the UFC’s featherweight rankings, and so he will hope to defend his position against Lopes.
Though UFC 300 does not yet have a confirmed main event, a number of fights have been announced for the card. The line-up of confirmed fights can be found below.
Justin Gaethje vs. Max Holloway, BMF title fight
Zhang Weili vs. Yan Xiaonan, strawweight title fight
Charles Oliveira vs. Arman Tsarukyan
Aljamain Sterling vs. Calvin Kattar
Jiri Prochazka vs. Aleksandar Rakic
