Diego Lopes says the scale is already making his argument for him. In an interview with Danny Segura that MMA Junkie published Thursday night, the featherweight contender revealed a stark weight gain connected to UFC White House. He used it to push back on the growing chorus saying he’ll be undersized at 155 pounds. According to the report, Lopes leaned on his strength and said he’s comfortable competing in either division as his career moves forward.
The timing explains why the question keeps coming up. Lopes is booked against Charles Oliveira for the BMF title in the main event of UFC 335 on Dec. 12, a lightweight fight against a man who has spent years in the thick of that division’s title picture. MMA Fighting reported earlier this week that Lopes hopes Oliveira comes out swinging, which tells you plenty about how he pictures the night going.
Oliveira is already looking past the BMF belt. He told MMA Fighting that beating Lopes should put him next in line for the undisputed title, and he built that case on star power rather than ranking. “I think I sell a lot more than Arman. So I could move ahead of Arman,” Oliveira said. That’s a bold read. Arman Tsarukyan beat Oliveira by split decision in 2024 and just knocked out Mauricio Ruffy in the first round. Oliveira’s counter is his own history with the champion, whom he submitted in 2022.
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That champion, Justin Gaethje, is the complication for everyone. He stopped Ilia Topuria in June on the White House lawn to unify the lightweight titles. He has since said he won’t fight again before the end of the year, and he has opened the door to retiring with the belt. Oliveira doubts any future purse will match that night. “The White House was a place everyone wanted to fight at, everyone wanted to be there,” he said. He added that a win over Lopes would leave his fight fresher in people’s minds than Tsarukyan’s when the UFC goes looking for a challenger early next year.
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The division Lopes is stepping away from, at least for one night, has its own business to settle first. Alexander Volkanovski defends the featherweight title against undefeated Movsar Evloev (20-0) at UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 24. Volkanovski has also floated a lightweight super fight with Gaethje in 2027 while, in his words, the divisions sort themselves out.
My take: size talk gets loud before fights like this because it’s the easiest thing to talk about. You can see a weigh-in photo, and you can’t see timing or composure in a sentence. A few extra pounds on Lopes’s frame won’t settle anything. What should hold his camp’s attention is that Oliveira is publicly campaigning for a title shot two months out, treating this fight as a stepping stone. If Lopes wants the size question to go away, the answer comes in the cage on Dec. 12, and it’ll be measured in how comfortable he looks in the third round, not on the scale the day before.
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