Having recently signed a new UFC deal, Diego Lopes now has a fight booked as well.
Lopes (22-6) will face former CFFC featherweight champ Pat Sabatini (18-4) at UFC 295 on November 11, 2023. The card takes place at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY and is set to be headlined by Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic.
News of the booking was first announced by Iridium Sports Agency, who represent Lopes. Lopes also confirmed the match-up.
Lopes had plenty of experience prior to signing with the UFC earlier this year, but hadn’t quite hit the radar with fans. That changed care of a valiant effort against Movsar Evloev in Lopes’ short notice debut.
In his first UFC fight with a full camp, Lopes put away Gavin Tucker with an arm-bar in little over 90 seconds. That earned Lopes a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus at UFC Nashville in August.
Sabatini 5-1 inside the octagon to date, with his lone loss coming against Damon “The Leech” Jackson. Most recently, Sabatini returned to the win column with an arm-triangle choke submission of Lucas Almeida.
November’s UFC 295 continues to take shape, and currently has the following bouts reported for it:
- Jon Jones (c) vs. Stipe Miocic — for the UFC heavyweight championship
- Mackenzie Dern vs. Jéssica Andrade
- Matt Schnell vs. Steve Erceg
- Joshua Van vs. Kevin Borjas
- Jared Gordon vs. Mark Madsen
- Pat Sabatini vs. Diego Lopes
