Diego Lopes knocked out Steve Garcia in the second round at UFC White House, improving his record to 28-8. The victory snaps a two-fight losing streak for Lopes, who had suffered back-to-back defeats to Alexander Volkanovski. Garcia, who falls to 19-6, saw his seven-fight winning streak come to an end.
Diego Lopes snapped a difficult skid with a second-round knockout of Steve Garcia at UFC White House on June 14, 2026, returning to the win column in emphatic fashion at the featherweight division's expense.
Lopes, 31, entered the bout under real pressure after back-to-back losses to Alexander Volkanovski had stalled what had been a rapid rise through the division. The Brazilian, who trains out of Lobo Gym MMA, now stands at 28-8 and holds the seventh-ranked spot in the featherweight rankings. Standing five-foot-eleven with a 72-inch reach, he averages 3.83 significant strikes per minute and supplements his striking with a dangerous submission game, averaging 1.4 submission attempts per 15 minutes.
Garcia entered the contest riding one of the more impressive active winning streaks in the division, having won seven straight before running into Lopes. The 34-year-old American, who fights out of Jackson-Wink MMA, drops to 19-6 with the defeat. Known as "Mean Machine," the southpaw stands six feet tall with a 75-inch reach and had been among the more active strikers in the featherweight ranks, landing 5.39 significant strikes per minute at a 49 percent accuracy rate.
Why it matters
- Lopes rebounds from consecutive losses to a former champion and reasserts himself as a legitimate top-ten featherweight threat
- Garcia's seven-fight winning streak, one of the longer runs in the division, is now over, potentially reshuffling his ranking position
- The stylistic clash between Lopes's submission volume and Garcia's high-output striking made for a compelling matchup, and the finish in round two underscores Lopes's finishing ability
Sunday, June 14, 2026
