Rising fan-favorite featherweight Diego Lopes has his third UFC assignment.
Lopes (22-6 MMA, 1-1 UFC) will battle Pat Sabatini (18-4 MMA, 5-1 UFC) on Nov. 11 at UFC 295, the promotion’s return to Madison Square Garden in New York. Both fighters recently confirmed the booking on social media following an initial report by ESPN Deportes.
Lopes, 28, burst into the international spotlight when he took a short notice bout vs. ranked Movsar Evloev at UFC 288 in May. Not only did Lopes go all three rounds with one of the promotion’s top featherweights, he put Evolev in several dangerous positions in the grappling department. Lopes lost the bout by unanimous decision, but stormed back in his second UFC outing when he quickly clubbed and subbed Gavin Tucker in 98 seconds.
Sabatini, 32, has quietly dominated his UFC tenure outside of a quick TKO loss to Damon Jackson in September 2022. His wins in the promotion include Tristan Connelly, Jamall Emmers, Tucker Lutz, T.J. Laramie and, in his most recent outing, Lucas Almeida.
With the addition, the UFC 295 lineup includes:
- Champ Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic – for heavyweight title
- Jessica Andrade vs. Mackenzie Dern
- Kevin Borjas vs. Joshua Van
- Stephen Erceg vs. Matt Schnell
- Jared Gordon vs. Mark Madsen
- Diego Lopes vs. Pat Sabatini
- Nurullo Aliev vs. Mateusz Rebecki
- Dennis Buzukja vs. Jamall Emmers
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 295.