Henry Cejudo says Diego Lopes’s UFC 303 win shows he’s not ready for top featherweights

Former two-division UFC champion Henry Cejudo feels featherweight star Diego Lopes isn’t ready for the elite 145lbers after UFC 303.

Lopes defeated Dan Ige, who filled in on hours’ notice for Brian Ortega, in the UFC 303 co-main event on Saturday in Las Vegas. He won the fight by unanimous decision after the sudden opponent switch in the eleventh hour of the pre-fight festivities.

Despite Ige having some success in Round 3, it was largely a dominant performance for Lopes,  who has now won four consecutive fights. He’s expected to feature at UFC 306 at the Las Vegas Sphere for the Noche UFC card.

Lopes wants to potentially re-book the Ortega fight for UFC 306, but Cejudo feels Lopes should take a slower, methodical approach to his featherweight trajectory.

Henry Cejudo says to ‘pump the brakes’ on Diego Lopes hype

During a recent episode of the Pound 4 Pound podcast, Cejudo gave a critical assessment of Lopes’s UFC 303 performance.

“I’m not too sure if Diego Lopes would really be ready for a guy like Brian Ortega,” Cejudo said of Lopes. “Was I impressed? A little bit, but the more film that they now have the more you’re able to watch him fight other top contenders, and guys that have been ranked in the Top 15, Top 10. I think Diego Lopes needs to slow down and continue to keep taking a lot of these other fighters in order for him to really catch a guy in the Top 10, even Top 5…

“We have to remember, too, Brian Ortega is No. 3. I think he’s still growing, in that sense. Continue to keep fighting guys that are at his level so eventually you can go after a dude like a Brian Ortega.”

As of this writing, Lopes hasn’t responded to Cejudo’s remarks.

Lopes has been on a roll since a short-notice UFC debut loss to Movsar Evloer at UFC 288. He’s finished three of his last four fights, including a wild knockout of Sodiq Yusuff at UFC 300.

The UFC might want to push Lopes towards facing the top featherweights, but Cejudo feels that might be a significant error for the sake of his career.