Kamaru Usman wanted to see more sense of urgency from Diego Lopes at UFC 325.
Lopes (27-8 MMA, 6-3 UFC) lost to featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski (28-4 MMA, 15-3 UFC) once again by unanimous decision this past Saturday at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney. Like their first fight at UFC 314, Lopes was able to hurt Volkanovski but was ultimately outstruck for five rounds.
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Ilia Topuria found success by backing up Volkanovski and eventually finding his chin, and Usman expected Lopes to do the same.
“I saw the change, but it just didn’t work out because he was being more measured,” Usman said on his “Pound 4 Pound” podcast with Henry Cejudo. “Yes, I get it. He saw the kicks a lot more to where he was stepping back from that low kick and the calf kicks, and he was able to read those a lot better, and he wasn’t just in the fire going crazy right away, and head hunting right away. But I feel like he held himself back so much to where he changed his style of fight.
“I felt like, especially in the first round, I felt he gave the first round away because he’s trying to calculate and read and see what’s going on, be more calculated and measured, but I felt like he kind of gave the fight away like that. Volk is one of those guys, he’s not going to slow down. He’s going to keep moving. You give up Round 1, you give up Round 2, all he needs is one more round, and he’s pretty much got it in the bag if you don’t put him away. There were a couple of moments where Diego Lopes tried to step on him and exchange. He landed a couple of good shots.”
More: Sean Shelby’s Shoes: What’s next for Diego Lopes after UFC 325 loss?
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Usman also wanted to see Lopes mix in his grappling to give Volkanovski something else to think about. He praised the champion for being able to stick to his game plan.
“I just felt like, if you’re not going to press a guy like Volk and use some offensive wrestling like Islam (Makhachev) did, then I believe it’s very, very difficult to fight a guy like Volkanovski because you can’t doubt this guy,” Usman said. “He’s so intelligent, and for a guy that little to be that intelligent to where he’s able to jab, inside kick, move, move, jab, inside kick, and jump guillotine.
“There’s moments in that round where he jumped guillotine and what a smart move by him, fight IQ, to just know there’s barely much time left on the clock that I can do this here and not give away the round. I think it was just a smart fight from Volkanovski, but I think Diego Lopes – yes, I like that he was measured, but he was a little too measured to where I think he changed his style completely.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Kamaru Usman: Diego Lopes ‘too measured’ in Alexander Volkanovski loss
