Diego Lopes and Alexander Volkanovski are eager to get inside the octagon. Yet while Volkanovski is next in line for the UFC featherweight title shot against Ilia Topuria, Lopes seems to be calling for a fight against the Australian. 

Interestingly, Volkanovski isn’t against the idea of fighting Lopes for an interim belt himself. Most recently, the two featherweights took to their respective social media accounts to share cryptic posts that might be hinting towards a potential matchup. 

The Australian posted a picture of himself on Instagram and captioned it by saying, “Time to work.”

Shortly after Volkanovski’s post, Lopes himself took to Instagram and said: “I believe in myself.”

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While Lopes is riding high on confidence and has secured back-to-back victories against Brian Ortega and Dan Ige, he has yet to face someone with the pedigree of Volkanovski. 

The Aussie is viewed as one of, if not the best, featherweights of all time.

After an extensive stint as the champion, he lost his belt to Topuria earlier this year.

With UFC heading back to Australia for UFC 312 next year, a matchup between the former champion and Lopes could very well be the headliner for the card. 

That said, it remains to be seen if the Australian opts to wait for Topuria or decides to stay active and fight Lopes in the meantime for an interim belt.