Movsar Evloev: Maybe Diego Lopes 'will be more effective' at lightweight
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Movsar Evloev thinks Diego Lopes changing weight classes will be beneficial.
After falling short twice to UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, Lopes (28-8 MMA, 7-3 UFC) rebounded with a knockout of Steve Garcia at the White House. However, with a slew of top contenders waiting for their shot, Lopes decided it's best if he goes up a weight class.
He makes his 155-pound debut against BMF champion Charles Oliveira (37-11 MMA, 25-11 UFC) in the UFC 335 headliner on Dec. 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Evloev (20-0 MMA, 10-0 UFC), who spoiled Lopes' UFC debut, sees it as a good move.
"Maybe he will be more effective in lightweight," Evloev told MMA Junkie. "He's huge, and carrying too much weight sometimes pulls you back. You cannot show all you've got, and that actually happened to me when I fought the first time in UFC. It was my first time when I fought at 145. Before that, I fought 135, and I started to feel much better when I moved up. Because you're getting bigger, you gain more muscles, and every fight is harder to cut, harder to recover well, so this will bother you a little while fighting."
Lopes told MMA Junkie that on UFC Freedom 250 fight day, he was 175 pounds after hitting 146 on the scale the day before. A surprised Evloev said he's nowhere near that when he competes.
"No, I still stay on diet after weigh-ins to not get too big because I do a lot of scrambling in the fight," Evloev said. "If you're too big, your muscles are cramped, or you get tired faster. You need to be light, and to be able to breathe, breathe longer, in a good way."
Evloev challenges Volkanovski (28-4 MMA, 15-3 UFC) for the featherweight title in the main event of UFC 333 (Paramount+) on Oct. 24 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Movsar Evloev: Maybe Diego Lopes 'will be more effective' at lightweight