Diego Lopes is moving up to fight Charles Oliveira for the BMF belt at UFC 335, and he isn’t treating the trip to 155 as a one-way ticket. In an interview with MMA Fighting, the Brazilian said a return to featherweight is something he’ll weigh down the line, with one condition attached: he has to keep winning.
“The most important thing for me is to keep putting together a winning streak, whether that’s at lightweight or featherweight,” Lopes said. His logic is blunt. Going up, dropping fights and then crawling back to 145 would mean starting from scratch, so the only way back to a big featherweight fight runs through wins at lightweight. “If I return to featherweight, I definitely want a big fight,” he said.
He also admitted the body isn’t ready for that cut right now. Lopes has been bulking since he knocked out Steve Garcia at UFC White House in June and currently walks around 180 pounds, which MMA Fighting noted is 15 more than he’d normally carry two months out from a cut to 145. Getting back to featherweight, he said, would take more time for his frame to readjust.
First comes the hardest night of his career, by his own account. Lopes meets Oliveira on Dec. 12 in Las Vegas, headlining the UFC’s final numbered card of 2026, with Alex Pereira vs. Sergei Pavlovich in the co-main. Lopes has faced Alexander Volkanovski, Movsar Evloev, Jean Silva and Brian Ortega, and he still called Oliveira his toughest matchup yet because “do Bronx” can finish you standing or on the mat, from top or bottom.
The road to this booking wandered. Lopes said the first lightweight offer after Garcia was a UFC Paris headliner against Dan Hooker, until Salahdine Parnasse signed and took that fight. The UFC then floated Benoit Saint Denis for UFC 344 at Madison Square Garden. Only after Mauricio Ruffy stepped in against Arman Tsarukyan in September did the call come for Oliveira and the BMF strap.
Oliveira won that belt from Max Holloway in March with a dominant grappling performance that drew criticism from fighters, fans and even UFC CEO Dana White. Lopes, who has seven bonuses in 10 UFC appearances, is openly hoping the man with the most bonuses in UFC history comes out swinging to make up for it. “Let’s see who goes down first,” he said with a laugh. He added that he has no fear of fighting off his back, which is a bold thing to say a few weeks out from facing one of the most dangerous guard players the sport has ever seen.
The lightweight title picture is murky. Justin Gaethje won’t defend in 2026 and could retire without defending at all. Lopes said he doesn’t know if even a dominant win earns him a shot, but if he takes the BMF belt, he’d like to defend it, ideally against Gaethje.
My take: keeping 145 open is the smart play, and he’s being honest about the price. A kid who puts on 15 pounds of fighting weight and then talks about wanting a brawl with Oliveira is either brave or reckless, and I’m buying a ticket to find out which. If Lopes walks out of the T-Mobile corridor on Dec. 12 with that BMF belt, featherweight will be calling him, not the other way around.
