Featherweight Diego Lopes made his sophomore trip to the octagon on Saturday at UFC Nashville, paired up with the returning Gavin Tucker.
Tucker had not been seen in action since a 2021 KO loss to Dan Ige. Lopes was coming off a spectacular performance against Movsar Evloev where, although losing, he wowed fans enough that he became a fan favorite.
Round 1 began with Tucker in close throwing front kicks to keep Lopes away, and then the worst of low blows you’ve seen in a minute. Lopes was only recovering for less than a minute before he let the ref know he was ready. Back and forth with the strikes until Tucker shot in for a takedown, but fell right into a triangle!
Try as much as he could Tucker just couldn’t get out of it! With Tucker defending the triangle Lopes was forced to go to the arm bar. When Tucker dropped to his back Lopes went back to a triangle, mounted this time, but as it turns out the arm bar was enough to send Tucker home early.
Diego Lopes got his first UFC victory of his career with the submission victory over Tucker.
Official Result: Diego Lopes def. Gavin Tucker via R1 Submission (Armbar) 1:38
