Diego Lopes’s UFC dream is stronger than ever.

Despite coming up short at Dana White’s Contender Series in August, the Brazilian fighter is still hopeful that he’ll one day be competing for the premier MMA organization in the world.

Lopes (19-5) lost a technical decision against Joanderson Brito at DWCS 37 – a bout he took on short notice. The fight was stopped early in the third round and judged from there due to an accidental eye poke from Brito that didn’t allow Lopes to continue fighting.

It was an unfortunate situation, as Lopes knew he was down on the scorecards and was ready to go for broke.

“When the eye poke happened unfortunately I couldn’t see anything,
Lopes told MMA Junkie in Spanish. “The doctor asked me if I could see,  and you know fighters – we always want to fight, so I said I was Ok. She gave me a towel to wipe my eye and when I wiped my eye there was blood. When the doctor saw that she said it wasn’t possible for me to continue the fight.

“I was upset and all that, but fortunately I went to the hospital and they checked me out and I didn’t have a torn retina or anything. There was only a slight scratch in the corner of the eye and they just told me to rest a few days and then I can come back. Now we have a chance to fight again and here we are.”

Lopes didn’t waste any time to get back on the horse, as he was quickly booked to fight Nate Richardson at Fury FC 52 on Oct. 17 in Texas. He’s currently training at the UFC Performance Institute alongside UFC champion Brandon Moreno and UFC bantamweight Marcelo Rojo.

The loss to Brito snapped a seven-fight winning streak for Lopes. The 26-year-old plans to keep racking up victories until he gets the call to compete in the UFC.

“Honestly, I don’t think that’s very far,” Lopes said. “At first I did see it far away, but now I think we’re much closer. I’m also staying here in Las Vegas more and that’s something good because I’m always in their sight.

“I’m hoping that after this fight I can get an opportunity whether it’s short notice or just get a contract, I don’t know. Right now, my focus is to win this upcoming fight and show that I have the level to compete with them (UFC).”