Diego Lopes claims UFC forced Ilia Topuria to vacate featherweight championship in exchange for lightweight move

Diego Lopes recently weighed in on Ilia Topuria's decision to relinquish his featherweight championship in favor of a permanent move to lightweight. The Brazilian believes the UFC was instrumental in that decision and that the promotion sent a message to all their champions in the process.

Dana White made the official announcement that 'El Matador' vacated his featherweight championship in order to move up to 155 pounds due to weight-cutting issues.

As a result of Topuria vacating, a main event bout to crown a new champion was booked for UFC 314, which will see Lopes take on former champion Alexander Volkanovski.

While speaking to ESPN Deportes' Carlos Contreras Legaspi, the featherweight contender shared his thoughts on the promotion setting a firm tone with champions attempting to achieve double-champ status. Lopes mentioned that the UFC will avoid having divisions blocked up due to a fighter being a simultaneous two-division champion:

"They were very clear to us that they said that they are no longer giving [a] chance to jump from one weight class to another. If you want to move up, you have to vacate your title. This is what UFC has said to all champions who are planning to move up a weight class. They will no longer have the status of double champion simultaneously. If [Topuria] is going to be a double champion, it will be nothing more than a champion of two categories."

Check out Diego Lopes' comments below:

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Diego Lopes doesn't blame Ilia Topuria for vacating his featherweight championship

In addition to his claims regarding the UFC, Diego Lopes also shared his thoughts on Ilia Topuria making the decision to vacate his featherweight championship to compete at lightweight.

During the aforementioned clip, Lopes mentioned that every fighter has the right to decide which weight class they want to compete in and doesn't have any bitterness that a bout between them won't materialize:

"If [Topuria] feels he has nothing else to do in the division, well, he should move forward with his career. I know that in the division we have very good fighters that could give very good fights against him, we can even put him in serious trouble or even defeat him... He has the right to believe [his work is done] and go ahead [to lightweight]."

Check out the official card for UFC 314 featuring Alexander Volkanovski vs. Diego Lopes below: