Outside Source
Diego Lopes believes we might see a massive upset in the UFC Freedom 250 main event—and he is willing to explain why.
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As Ilia Topuria (17-0) looks to defend his lightweight title against interim champion Justin Gaethje (27-5) in the headliner of the UFC White House card on June 14, he figures to enter the Octagon as a 5-to-1 favorite or greater. Lopes initially favored Topuria, but claims he has changed his mind recently and is pulling for Gaethje to pull off the upset he feels is more of a possibility than most observers will admit. Lopes, who is scheduled to open up the event in a featherweight tilt with Steve Garcia, told Ariel Helwani:
“99% of the people think Topuria takes the win, I thought so before too. But now I jumped to Gaethje’s side. Because this is like a car crash. In a car crash there 50-50 [chance]. Gaethje has heavy hands. I hope Justin Gaethje surprises everyone and me too.”
Lopes also believes Topuria has yet to face a knockout artist of Gaethje’s caliber. Topuria is coming off knockout wins over legends in Alexnader Volkanovski, Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira, but Lopes noted that Volkanovski and Holloway are not one-punch knockout artists, while Oliveira hits hard but lacks timing. However, Lopes believes Gaethje is different and can put Topuria to sleep with a big shot:
“[Ilia’s] fight with Volk – Volk is a great opponent, he’s so smart, but he doesn’t have a lot of powerful knockouts. Charles Oliveira, he has power, but he doesn’t connect like Topuria. Max Holloway, same thing, he is not the guy to knock people out with just one punch. Justin Gaethje is different; he can knock people out with just that one big punch.”
UFC Freedom 250 takes place this Sunday on the south lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C. The seven-fight card is headlined by a lightweight title unification bout between Topuria and Gaethje, while Alex Pereira and Cityl Gane are scheduled to fight for the interim heavyweight belt in the co-main event.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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