Returning Aljamain Sterling eyes Diego Lopes after ‘tension shift’ with UFC phenom — but Lopes has ‘Great’ idea

The top spot in the UFC featherweight division is up for grabs.

Matchmakers were hoping to sort through some of the clutter by pairing Aljamain Sterling against Movsar Evloev, but “Funk Master” got injured and was forced to withdraw from the UFC 307 pay-per-view (PPV) card next month in Salt Lake City.

A dejected Evloev was subsequently sent back to Russia.

No definitive timeline has been established for Sterling’s return, but the former UFC bantamweight champion is hoping to capitalize on the success of fast-rising featherweight phenom Diego Lopes — assuming the promotion has other plans for Evloev.

Lopes is ranked above Sterling and Evloev at No. 3 in the 145-pound rankings.

“Maybe Diego Lopes,” Sterling told The Schmo. “Diego rising … his stardom and his rise in the sport, in the UFC, has been huge. It’s nothing short of inspiring, to be honest. I’m happy for the guy. I got to train with him one time, he was a very nice dude, very polite. I can kind of feel the tension shift a little bit now, whenever I see him it feels like there’s a little bit more tension there. It’s not like I’m fighting him tomorrow or he’s my next scheduled fight. For me, I don’t really see a point in being like that but I understand why he’s a little bit more on guard when seeing me or meeting me now.”

Lopes defeated former title challenger Brian Ortega to win his fifth straight at UFC 306.

“If we’re talking the next best fight if Movsar declines … I just don’t know who else he would fight, but if you’re giving me the option, I always wanted Brian Ortega so I can get the closest spot to the top — and now the next closest guy is Diego Lopes,” Sterling continued. “That’s all it is, it has nothing to do with what this guy did, or that. It’s the name value, what it gets me, risk versus reward. If I’m gonna risk it for the biscuit, that’s the guy I would risk it with.”

Lopes has other plans, which include the main event backup slot at UFC 308.

“If that [backup fight] fight doesn’t happen, we’d like the possibility of fighting [Alexander] Volkanovski in December,” Lopes told MMA Fighting. “He doesn’t like to wait, and neither do I, so that could be a good fight. A lot can happen, but I think the two most viable options for us right now are being the backup fighter in Abu Dhabi, or fighting Volkanovski in December. The UFC is aware that I’m available for [UFC 308], so it depends on what they want to do.”

Volkanovski is open to fighting Lopes … with a certain stipulation.

“The Volk fight would be very interesting because he’s shown he can adapt well to everybody’s style, especially when his opponent is taller, until he fought [Ilia] Topuria,” Lopes continued. “But I think I can also adapt well to guys that are shorter than me, so it would be a very interesting fight.”

Matchmakers are going to have some tough decisions to make over the next few weeks.