The UFC 314 press conference very nearly devolved into untamed chaos when old wounds were reopened.
Alexander Volkanovski is looking to reclaim the vacant featherweight title when he goes to battle with rising star Diego Lopes on Saturday – but it wasn’t his main-event foe who Lopes wanted to get his hands on when tensions reached boiling point at the media event.
Lopes instead got into a heated exchange with fellow featherweight contender Yair Rodriguez, who welcomes two-weight Bellator champion Patricio Pitbull to the UFC this weekend.
The fighters had to be held back by security when past bad blood rose to the surface, with Lopes sparking the altercation by aiming a dig at Rodriguez’s two-fight skid.
Rodriguez took issue with this and replied by branding Lopes a “culón”, a common Spanish vulgarity implying that the Mexican-Brazilian is a coward.
Rodriguez got up to his feet and accused Lopes and his team of attacking former UFC fighter and teammate Marco Beltran, with an apparent history of conflict between the pair’s gyms coming to light.
“You know why you are culón,” Rodriguez shouted across the stage in Spanish. “Didn’t your team beat up Marco?
“I waited for this moment to tell you to your face. I am going to make you pay the price for Marco.”
Lopes, being restrained by security, hit back. He said: “Don’t talk about anyone on my team or you will suffer the consequence.”
With the translator struggling to keep up as the situation continued to escalate, Rodriguez and Lopes threw insults at each other in Spanish. Lopes then claimed that Beltran was dealt his comeuppance by his team for threatening a female member of his camp.
“Don’t mess with my team,” Lopes reiterated. “My team is here, they know what you did. Be careful, I won’t forget you threatening my team. You don’t threaten women.”
Rodriguez wasn’t accepting this justification, pointing the finger at Lopes’s team for ganging up on Beltran in a 10-versus-one beatdown.
Rodriguez retorted: “I know where you live. Don’t try to twist my words now. You also shouldn’t beat up one person with 10 men like you and your team did to Marco.”
After Lopes’s translator could be heard saying “stop with the threats”, UFC commentator and press conference moderator Jon Anik stepped in to get things back on track.
While the pair continued to bicker across the stage as other fighters answered questions from the audience, an all-out brawl between them was prevented by security.
Rodriguez and Lopes could very well be pitted against each other in the cage before the year is out, whether it be for the featherweight title or not, with both in the upper echelons of the rankings at 145lb.
But for now, focus is on the stacked UFC 314 card in Miami this weekend, which also boasts a hotly-anticipated co-main event between Paddy “The Baddy” Pimblett and Michael Chandler.
