Diego Lopez and Eare Rodriguez had to get security involved to separate them after they nearly got blown away at a featherweight press conference at a press conference before 314 UFC games on Thursday.
The most intense moment occurred when asked if Lopez might consider Rodriguez in the UFC 320 in Mexico if he walked through Alexander Volkanovsky while both fighters faced different opponents on pay-per-view cards. The war of words quickly escalated after Rodriguez made a comment on Wednesday’s UFC 314 Media Day that he didn’t like Lopez, the Mexico-leading figure despite being born in Brazil.
In response, Lopez returned to Rodriguez and prepared for a fight against former Beliter champion Patricio Pitbull to match the two losses.
“How many losses does he have in succession?” cried Rope. “How many losses does he have in a row?”
A moment later, Rodriguez was standing up with the microphone in his hand as he began screaming back to Lopez. Lopez joined him as the fighters began screaming at each other.
“Tell me in my face!” cried Lopez (via UFC translator Fabiano Bushki). “You want to fight me? Don’t talk about my team!”
The fierce argument continued, the fighters spoke Spanish to each other, and security tried to leave them to prevent potential brawls on stage.
After the press conference ended, Lopez and Rodriguez gathered again after the fighters split into two different sides of the stage for a conventional showdown.
For a while, it seemed that the cooler head had won as the fighter was talking, but things didn’t seem to have settled down as security quickly resumed, pulling the rope away from the interaction.
As much as he wanted to throw with Rodriguez in the moment, Lopez is now fully focused on the vacant title fight UFC 314 with Volkanovski on Saturday. Depending on the outcome, Lopez may have the opportunity to finally settle grim against Rodriguez with UFC 320 (the latest in the Noche UFC series) heading to Guadalajara, Mexico in September.