Diego Lopes breaks his silence after falling to Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 314: ‘I fell short last night’

Diego Lopes didn’t capture the featherweight title at UFC 314 on Saturday but he’s not hanging his head in shame after going five rounds with arguably the greatest 145-pound fighter of all time in Alexander Volkanovski.

Less than two years after making his octagon debut, Lopes stormed into his first main event and gave Volkanovski everything he could handle across five rounds. Lopes scored plenty of big shots but ultimately he came up short on the scorecards with the judges giving Volkanovski the fight 49-46, 49-46 and 48-47 after it was all over.

On Sunday, Lopes released a brief statement on social media addressing his loss.

“Always with my head held high, a smile on my face,” Lopes said. “I fell short last night, I failed in a few things. I’ll get back to work, improve, correct the mistakes, and move forward. Thank you all for your support. As I always say, “NOTHING HAPPENS.”

There was certainly no shame in Lopes’ performance after he engaged in a Fight of the Night against Volkanovski, who made history as the first fighter over 35 years of age to capture a title in a division from 155 pounds or lower in the UFC.

Lopes did seem to get off to a bit of a slow start in the opening round, which is unusual for his aggressive, action-packed style but he turned things around in the second stanza after clipping Volkanovski with a hard punch and knocking him to the ground briefly.

From there on out, Lopes was constantly battling Volkanovski for every inch inside the cage and he landed plenty of big shots as evidenced by the Australian’s banged up face when the fight was over.

Still, Lopes came up short on the scorecards but still paid tribute to Volkanovski for a job well done during his post-fight interview in the octagon.

“It was an honor to share the octagon with a guy like Alexander Volkanovski,” Lopes said. “But I’ll be back. This is a man who is so experienced in the UFC. I can see myself coming. I’m going to get better, I’m going to come back and I’m going to be a champion.”