UFC 306 results: Diego Lopes brutalizes Brian Ortega for 3 rounds ...

Diego Lopes picked up the biggest win of his career with a lopsided victory over Brian Ortega in a featured bout at UFC 306.

Originally scheduled to fight back in June, Lopes made the most of his second opportunity against Ortega after he nearly scored a finish in the first round but ultimately dished out a ton of punishment across all 15 minutes to get the nod on the scorecards. The judges scored the fight 30-26, 30-27 and 30-27 as Lopes moved to 5-1 in the UFC with his only loss coming in a very short notice debut against fellow featherweight contender Movsar Evloev.

“First of all Mexico, this is for you,” Lopes shouted to the crowd. “I said all week Brian Ortega isa tough guy and I came here to finish the fight. I needed to have a clear and dominant victory and I feel I got a dominant victory. I think I just got the No. 3 in the world. Whatever the UFC says, put my name on the table for a title fight.”

A notorious fast starter, Lopes cracked Ortega with a huge overhand right followed by a massive left hook just seconds into the fight and it immediately had the two-time featherweight title challenger in trouble. Lopes ended up grabbing a body lock and tossing Ortega to the canvas but he wasn’t able to get a finish right away.

Still, Lopes was dishing out a lot of damage including a cut that opened over Ortega’s left eye with blood immediately trickling down his face. Despite the amount of punishment absorbed, Ortega displayed his signature durability before working his way back into the fight after returning to his feet.

As the fight moved into the second round, Lopez was still displaying a lot of power in his punches but Ortega was beginning to match him with strikes on the feet. Lopes wasn’t as active but he was still keeping Ortega honest whenever he let loose with a combination, which included a huge head kick and several stiff kicks to the legs as well.

While Ortega was hanging tough and doing much better on the feet, he ended up walking to his corner with a huge amount of swelling on his calf from the repeated kicks coming from Lopes.

Knowing he was done on the scorecards, Ortega started stepping into the pocket to invite some exchanges as he began letting his hands go in repetition. Ortega was stabbing away with a good lead jab but Lopes was still coming back at him with some serious power behind every punch thrown.

With less than two minutes remaining, Lopes connected with a rapid-fire combination including a right hand that popped Ortega directly in the eye. That only caused more damage to the cut that was already opened near Ortega’s eye.

Lopes then uncorked a hellacious left hook that sent Ortega crashing to the canvas for the second time in the fight. Once again, Ortega found a way to survive to the final horn bout Lopes clearly did more than enough to earn the win.

The victory over a proven contender like Ortega means that Lopes likely has an even bigger fight in his future with only a few options available to him near the top of the featherweight division.