Diego Lopes is well known for his world-class grappling and powerful striking, but he’s adding more weapons to his arsenal after seeking out help with his wrestling from an Olympic gold medalist and his team of athletes.
Prior to UFC 314, where Lopes faces Alexander Volkanovski with the vacant featherweight title up for grabs, the 30-year-old fighter traveled down to Stillwater, Okla. to work with the Oklahoma State University wrestling team led by David Taylor. After winning the 2020 Olympic gold medal, Taylor actually contemplated a move into MMA himself but ultimately decided coaching was the best possible fit for him and he was happy to welcome Lopes to the wrestling room.
“He came down and I’ve known Diego just from the beginning of his journey actually,” Taylor told MMA Fighting. “I’ve always been a big fan and followed him to get to his superstardom. He wanted to come down and do some different training and help him out.”
Lopes wasn’t necessarily looking for specialized training focused only on him. He jumped into the deep end with the Oklahoma State wrestling team, which just recently crowned two NCAA National Champions, including heavyweight Wyatt Hendrickson after his stunning upset of another Olympic gold medalist, Gable Steveson.
Hendrickson was impressed with Lopes. Despite Lopes not coming from a wrestling background, the UFC 314 headliner showed incredible promise and immediately developed new skills working with the athletes from Oklahoma State.
“It was awesome having him here. He just embraced it,” Hendrickson told MMA Fighting about Lopes training there. “The wrestling environment just like MMA, it’s exciting. Like I said, different perspectives and having him in here wrestle with some of the best wrestlers in the country, if not the best wrestlers in the country, it’s going to do nothing but help prepare for those fights.
“It takes multiple different [disciplines]. You can’t just be a really good boxer and expect to do good at MMA. You can’t just be a really good wrestler. So I think developing every single aspect of the game is important.”
The time spent at Oklahoma State made a lasting impression on Lopes, who openly rooted for the team during the recent NCAA tournament, which was Taylor’s first as a coach.
Taylor says the relationship and bond he formed with Lopes was so strong that members of his team continued to help the featherweight title contender prepare for his upcoming fight against Volkanovski on Saturday.
“Actually now we’re helping in his training camp,” Taylor revealed. “We’ve had people helping him through this training camp and helping him get ready for this title fight against Volkanovski. Excited for Diego. I think it’s pretty cool. He’s a striker, he’s a submission artist and now he has another wrinkle to his game. It just shows these guys are competitive and they want to win and as good as he is, he’s still looking to evolve.”
While Lopes is no stranger to using his grappling to win fights, Taylor believes blending in even more high-level wrestling can only help him in those crucial moments when he’s trying to control a round or simply break his opposition with dominance on the ground.
“I think when you can grapple, you can control a whole round,” Taylor said. “Have that control element or if you get taken down, you know how to get up. Obviously what makes Diego unique is he’s as dangerous from his back. His submissions are incredible. He’s got great knockout power. He’s got good cardio. Also when you can go and wrestle someone for 25 minutes in training, that helps with your conditioning, your mental state.
“So I think he’s excited to compete. It’s a great opportunity for him and we’re excited to help him a little bit. But it’s going to be a good test for him for sure.”
Because he’s a prominent UFC fighter, Lopes was definitely recognized when he showed up at the Oklahoma State wrestling room, but Hendrickson says he jumped right in the deep end and didn’t want any special treatment just because he was technically a newcomer by their standards.
“He’s competing with some of our wrestlers and he [doesn’t even have] a wrestling background,” Hendrickson said. “It’s exciting to see the growth that he’s going to continue to make and here at Oklahoma State if you want to be a champion, this is where you come.”
Lopes has his regular coaches preparing to corner him on Saturday when he battles Volkanovski in the main event but ,Taylor won’t be too far away because he plans on attending UFC 314 to show his support in hopes that the latest part-time member to his team becomes champion.
“The plan is to go and watch him and support him,” Taylor said.