Diego Lopes is truly ready for anything at UFC White House.
The featherweight contender is currently scheduled to fight Steve Garcia in the opener of Sunday’s historic show in Washington, D.C., and he successfully made weight for that matchup at Friday’s official weigh-ins, officially registering at 146 pounds. However, in a bizarre twist, it was later announced Lopes would weigh in again as a backup for the lightweight championship main event between Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje.
Lopes’ second appearance saw him come in at 154 pounds. The moment drew a laugh from the fighter and reporters, but apparently this is no joke as UFC.com included the following statement on its weigh-in page:
*Diego Lopes has also weighed-in at 154.0 pounds as a potential alternate in the lightweight division.
Watch Lopes’ weigh-ins below.
Lopes is no stranger to fight week chaos. At UFC 303 in June 2024, Lopes was supposed to fight Brian Ortega in that show’s co-main event. When illness forced Ortega to withdraw from the bout on fight day, Dan Ige stepped up as a replacement and Lopes agreed to fight him in a 165-pound catchweight bout just hours before the event was to start.
Now, it’s Lopes putting himself into position for a last-second save as he could either step in for undisputed champion Topuria or interim champion Gaethje should the need arise.
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