Washington — Featherweight Diego Lopes is expecting a banger when he collides with Steve Garcia at the White House this Sunday, part of UFC Freedom 250.
Lopes, a former two-time featherweight title challenger, opens up the highly anticipated, one-of-a-kind card on the south lawn of the White House. Garcia, who flew under the radar early in his UFC run, has become a fan fave for exciting scraps, much like Lopes himself.
“I think he has a perfect style for me. I like this, I like the car crash, you know? In the chaos is where I’m the best guy,” Lopes told media outlets including Cageside Press on Wednesday.
Lopes also addressed rumors that his walkout track had been banned from the event.
“I don’t know, I don’t have any idea where this comes from. The people just talk, people talk. I don’t know what happened, I don’t know [why] the people said this, I don’t know why people posted this.”
As he recalled, the “UFC called me maybe two months ago, said ‘hey send us your walkout song for White House.’ So I send my walkout song, they said ‘no problem,’ so yeah no problem now.”
Lopes has historically walked out to regional Mexican anthem “La Chona” by Los Tucanes de Tijuana for his fights. He’ll also be carrying the flags of both his native Brazil and adopted Mexico on Saturday.
Given the politicized nature of UFC Freedom 250, taking place at the American capitol and hosted on U.S. President Donald Trump’s birthday, representing the country’s southern neighbor takes on significance of a certain magnitude. That, however, is not on Diego Lopes’ mind.
“I don’t think about that, I just enjoy the moment, I just enjoy my walkout song. I just enjoy my journey to the cage,” he stated. “I know a lot of important people are in the building, I know everybody in the world likely watches the fights. But for me, just for me, it’s my moment.”
Watch the full UFC Freedom 250 media day appearance by Diego Lopes above.
