8-cent meals, bucket shower and Mexican dream: The improbable rise of Diego Lopes

He’s greater than a Brazilian fighter with a unique coiffure, highly effective punches and slick jiu-jitsu. Diego Lopes is the embodiment of the combating spirit that drives folks to beat difficulties for a purpose.

Dream, consider and make it occur.

This Saturday, Lopes enters Kaseya Heart in Miami for UFC 314 representing each Brazil and Mexico, seeking to declare a vacant featherweight title towards legendary former champion Alexander Volkanovski. Lopes headlines a UFC pay-per-view for the primary time, the head of a profession stuffed of difficult ups and down, from Manaus to Puebla.

Manaus is known for producing proficient grapplers for over a century, from the Gracies incursion to the Amazon metropolis to Wallid Ismail, to Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and the nice Jose Aldo, with Lopes following these footsteps within the jiu-jitsu world. He was proficient, however realized quickly sufficient that jiu-jitsu tournaments, though thrilling to be a part of, wouldn’t put meals on the desk. Mixing the martial arts gave the impression to be the reply, and he made the transfer in September of 2012 with a second-round TKO victory.

Lopes wasted no time. 9 months later and his skilled file already confirmed three stoppage victories in a small native promotion, however then got here the losses. First, a break up determination to Thiago Silva adopted by a TKO stoppage to Rodrigo Praia. He felt the necessity to change to be able to make it massive within the sport, and Manaus didn’t really feel sufficiently big.

“I misplaced these fights back-to-back and that’s after I realized that’s what I wished for my life,” Lopes tells MMA Combating. “My brother [Thiago Freitas] was the primary of the household to begin combating and he was additionally a fantastic fighter, however he didn’t have a lot alternatives. After I noticed that’s what I actually wished, I didn’t assume twice about leaving Manaus and shifting to Sao Paulo to get higher on this path.”

Lopes landed in Sao Paulo and joined Revira Black Staff to coach. Coach Vinicius Reviravolta had a partnership with a faculty close by that gave them an opportunity to eat and avoid wasting change that may make a distinction. It wasn’t sufficient to pay lease both, in order that they slept within the gymnasium.

That situation later modified, when Reviravolta moved his gymnasium from Lapa to “far-off” in Perus, additionally in Sao Paulo. There was no place for Lopes and the opposite youngsters to sleep within the gymnasium anymore, in order that they needed to lease a spot within the space.

“We did every part we may to pay the lease and meals,” Lopes stated. “However generally we had no cash.”

Lopes and his pals discovered concerning the Bom Prato restaurant, a state-owned institution that served meals to unprivileged folks in Sao Paulo at decrease costs, and that’s how they managed to eat each single day.

“The breakfast was R$0.50 (approx. eight cents USD) and the lunch was R$1.00 (17 cents),” Lopes says. “We left dwelling at six within the morning and had breakfast, after which took the prepare and subway to Perus. Two hours to get to Reviravolta’s gymnasium, on daily basis. It was loopy as a result of coaching began at 10 after which we had one other session at 4 p.m. Everyone introduced their meals to eat however we didn’t have it, so we went upstairs and waited behind the octagon to get some relaxation and look forward to the opposite coaching session.”

Lopes’ coach and teammates finally seen the trio wasn’t having lunch. They had been too embarrassed to confess they’d no cash for meals.

“We didn’t have something to eat, and little by little folks began to assist us” Lopes stated. “Associates introduced lunch for us. Typically grasp Vinicius helped us with meals as nicely. Reginaldo Vieira was coaching for [The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 4] remaining at the moment, and he would typically give us R$50 to eat.”

That cash meant greater than 10 days of breakfast and lunch for every of the three, however they might typically share one and avoid wasting cash for a wet day.

Lopes tapped out Isaque Silva in his first battle after shifting to Sao Paulo, and went on to TKO one other opponent later that yr. Lopes was doing nicely in grappling tournaments too, and determined to take an opportunity for larger alternatives outdoors of Sao Paulo. Some had been snug in Sao Paulo, however Lopes wished extra. He instructed Reviravolta he was open to touring wherever on the planet to proceed his profession.

Lopes improved to 6-2 with a fast heel hook end in April 2015 when the decision got here. Reviravolta was approached by a bunch in Mexico on the lookout for proficient grapplers to educate jiu-jitsu within the nation, and nobody else on the workforce sounded .

Lopes instantly raised his hand.

On Sept. 22, three days after tapping Gilberto Pantoja in Sao Paulo, Lopes walked to gate 20 of the Sao Paulo worldwide airport to board the CM724Y flight on technique to Cancun.

And so started a brand new historical past, a brand new life. The following chapter of that story goes down Saturday evening in Miami, however the path there was not simple.

Lopes was employed by a gymnasium in Playa Del Carmen to show jiu-jitsu. He met Alessandro Costa, a fellow manauara who would turn out to be his greatest good friend and likewise be part of the UFC years later. They each had a month-to-month wage, a spot to reside, however that each one got here to an abrupt finish.

“We received screwed, and I made a decision to depart,” Lopes says. “We ended up coming to Puebla and issues received tough. Cash was quick, and all the cash I had saved was gone, little by little. Alessandro and I went again to residing in a gymnasium.”

Reviravolta knew a spot in Puebla that wanted good grapplers, and made the connection. Lopes and Costa had a brand new place to name dwelling, however it wasn’t simple.

“I bear in mind we lived within the gymnasium and there wasn’t even a bathe,” Lopes says. “We took a bathe utilizing buckets.”

Lopes and Costa stayed there for a while earlier than deciding to open a gymnasium. They had been Brazilians and had good jiu-jitsu, so the concept of getting their very own place to show sounded good.

Mistaken. They went bankrupt and shortly it was again to sq. one.

The boys that left Manaus as jiu-jitsu practitioners on the lookout for MMA success had been now on a profitable streak in Mexico, however with no place to coach. Humorous sufficient, it was Lopes’ aggressive grappling that ended up altering his life.

“The primary time folks began to find out about me right here in Mexico was when there was a jiu-jitsu event that paid extra cash per submission,” Lopes says. “It wasn’t a lot, 800 pesos, and I needed to win 5 matches.”

Certainly one of Lopes’ pals raffled a rash guard to borrow cash to purchase his ticket to the event.

“It was the precise quantity for the journey, roundtrip,” Lopes says. “After I was about to depart I instructed Alessandro I had the cash to purchase my ticket, however I used to be like, ‘Fuck it, include me.’ There’s another reason for me win, or we will’t return. I’ve to win.”

Lopes purchased two one-way tickets and received on the highway with Costa. He gained 5 matches the subsequent day, 4 by submission, and that’s when Diego Lopes turned a identified commodity within the native grappling circuit.

“It opened many doorways for me,” Lopes says. “To compete in additional tournaments, to show seminars, every part. It was such a cool expertise.”

At one level of his profession, Lopes rode an eight-fight profitable streak. He gained and defended the LUX Struggle League championship with submissions throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, however the name wasn’t coming. Regardless of all of the struggles, shifting again to Manaus wasn’t an possibility.

“My purpose was fairly clear,” Lopes says. “I didn’t wish to return to Manaus, I didn’t wish to return to Sao Paulo, I didn’t wish to return to Brazil. I knew that there have been many alternatives for me right here. When there was nothing for us to eat, we’d purchase low-cost bread and put it aside for the week. We labored as evening membership bouncers, we labored as waiters, we labored as gardeners. We went all over the place regardless of how a lot we’d be paid. We had nothing to eat and no cash to purchase something.

“At that time, it doesn’t matter how a lot you’re getting paid, what issues is having sufficient to eat and really feel sturdy to coach. After all, generally we had been like, ‘F*ck, what are we going to do? What are we going to eat tomorrow? What are we going to eat at present? What are we going to do? The place can we get a job? However Alessandro was the important thing as a result of every time one in all us was feeling down, the opposite one would encourage you. We by no means let one another really feel down.”

The decision lastly got here in August 2021, an opportunity to compete for a UFC deal at Dana White’s Contender Collection. Once more, heartbreak. Joanderson Brito left victorious through a technical determination after an eye fixed poke rendered Lopes unable to proceed. Two months later, now combating within the native circuit in the US, one other determination loss for Lopes, this time towards Nate Richardson at Fury FC.

Lopes lastly turned issues round in 2022, scoring two knockouts in a row at Fury FC to once more put his identify on the UFC radar. Lopes was provided a last-minute probability to interchange Bryce Mitchell towards undefeated and feared Russian machine Movsar Evloev at UFC 288 in Newark, N.J. Lopes misplaced, however placed on the type of efficiency that launched his identify to the world.

Gavin Tucker, Pat Sabatini, Sodiq Yusuff, Dan Ige and Brian Ortega, all of them stood and fell in entrance of the Brazilian. One after the opposite. Evloev, who campaigned for a shot on the UFC gold, was left behind by the identical man he as soon as beat. With Ilia Topuria vacating the featherweight throne to chase light-weight future, it’s Lopes’ flip to make historical past.

“I used to be capable of make my dream come true,” Lopes says. “My dream was to have one thing to eat as a result of I’d nonetheless battle with or with out having one thing to eat. We went to tournaments to win and having one thing to eat. That’s what actually mattered for us, actually.

“And it was all value it, man. I don’t remorse something. I’m pleased with every part that occurred. I left dwelling 11 years in the past and all of it labored out. All of the sacrifices and laborious work. To be blessed with the chance of combating for the belt is one thing that motivates me quite a bit. I’ll present I deserve this shot. I used to be away from my household and pals to have what I’ve at present.”

Photograph by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC