Diego Lopes and Yair Rodriguez get into each other's faces post-UFC 314 presser after the former accuses the latter of threatening a female teammate

By Nishant Zende.

Modified Apr 11, 2025 03:19 GMT

Diego Lopes (left) and Yair Rodriguez (right) trade heated words at UFC 314 presser. [Image courtesy: Getty Images]

It appears Diego Lopes and Yair Rodriguez have no love for each other. The two featherweights recently got into a heated shouting match ahead of UFC 314 in Miami this weekend, with both hurling accusations at each other.

Lopes and Rodriguez are both booked to fight on the UFC 314 card. While Lopes will be fighting for the vacant featherweight title against Alexander Volkanovski in the main event, Rodriguez is set to go up against Patricio Pitbull. During the pre-fight press conference, the two men got into a fiery exchange and had to be held back by security personnel as things got heated.

Per @TotalPelea on X, after Rodriguez accused Lopes and his team of physically violating his teammate Marco Beltran, 'El Pantera' was blamed for allegedly threatening a female on the featherweight title contender's team.

Intriguingly, Lopes and Rodriguez continued their discussion after the UFC 314 pre-fight press conference. Under the watchful eye of the UFC's security personnel, the two featherweights resumed their heated exchange on stage while pointing and yelling at each other.

After some time, they were separated by security. It's worth noting that Rodriguez also recently expressed his dismay at Lopes representing Mexico despite being born and raised in Brazil.

Yair Rodriguez sounds off on Diego Lopes representing Mexico instead of Brazil in the UFC

Yair Rodriguez recently shared his thoughts on Diego Lopes repping the Mexican flag in the UFC despite his Brazilian roots. 'El Pantera' stated that he wasn't a fan of such behavior and clarified that he didn't consider himself an American despite living in the country for the past ten years.

During the UFC 314 media day, Rodriguez spoke his mind about Lopes carrying out the Mexican flag during his fights and said:

About the author

Nishant brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to his MMA reporting for Sportskeeda. During his 1.5 years with the organization and previous work, Nishant has established himself as a prolific writer in the MMA community. With a Bachelor's degree in Media and Journalism and a Master's degree in International Relations, Nishant's educational background enhances his analytical and reporting skills.

Nishant admires UFC legend Georges St-Pierre for his dominance and exemplary conduct inside and outside the cage. The monumental UFC 229 event, headlined by a grudge match between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor, captivated Nishant and solidified his passion for MMA.

Nishant focuses on delivering high-quality content by giving attention to detail, and rigorous fact-checking via multiple layers. His dedication is evident in his achievement of publishing over 1.7K articles and accumulating 4.4 million reads in less than two years.

Nishant feels that it is only a matter of time that MMA takes over Boxing as the no.1 combat sport. Beyond MMA, his interests include philosophy, music exploration, and wildlife photography.

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