Gustavo Lopez (fighter) explained

Gustavo Lopez
Birth Name:Gustavo Hernandez Lopez[1]
Birth Date:27 June 1989
Birth Place:Wapato, Washington, United States
Weight Lb:135
Weight Class:Bantamweight
Reach:67.0 in[2]
Rank:Brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu[3] [4]
Stance:Orthodox
Fighting Out Of:Las Vegas, Nevada
Team:Yakima MMA (until 2015)[5]
Xtreme Couture (2015–present)
10th Planet Jiu Jitsu Las Vegas
Years Active:2012–present
Mma Kowin:5
Mma Subwin:7
Mma Decwin:1
Mma Koloss:5
Mma Decloss:3
Mma Draw:1
Sherdog:107201
University:Yakima Valley College
Menlo College

Gustavo Hernandez Lopez (born June 27, 1989) is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the Bantamweight division. A professional since 2012, he has competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Background

Lopez was raised in Wapato, Washington, along with two brothers.[6] As a freshman in 2004, Lopez started his wrestling career at Wapato High School after his friends “tricked” him into trying out for the team. Four seasons, three state appearances and two medals at Mat Classic initially led to a full athletic scholarship to Stanford University. Nevertheless, Gustavo didn't want to leave his recently-widowed mother and move to California, so he resorted to turn the offer down and attend local Yakima Valley College. While competing there, he qualified for the NJCAA tournament twice while earning an associate’s degree in business accounting.

While in community college, Gustavo began training at Yakima MMA and after a friend asked Lopez to corner a fight and a fighter on the card dropped out on the day of the event, Lopez agreed to step in and knocked out his opponent in seven seconds. He won his next eight amateur fights, turning pro in 2009 after it became difficult to find challengers. During the same time period, he became a nationally ranked NAIA wrestler at 141 pounds and earned his bachelor's degree in finance at Menlo College in 2014.

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

Starting his professional career in 2012, Lopez started out with Cagesport, where he went 2–1, before fighting for Bellator MMA at Bellator 2014 Monster Energy Cup against Sean Cantor, who he beat by first round rear-naked choke.[7]

After this, he signed with Combate Americas, where he would mostly fight for the next 4 years. During this run, he fought for the Bantamweight title 3 times, losing the first two times to John Castañeda and José Alday, before winning on the third time in a rematch against José Alday at Combate 33 via TKO in the first round. He then defended the title against Joey Ruquet at Combate 42 on August 23, 2019. He won the fight via KOing Ruquet in a first round.[8]

Ultimate Fighting Championship

On June 11, 2020, news broke that Lopez had signed with the UFC and would be replacing Ray Borg on short notice against Merab Dvalishvili on June 13, 2020, at .[9] However, Combate Americas' CEO Campbell McLaren claimed they were not given a right to match UFC's offer and Lopez is still under the contract matching period.[10] However, the contract dispute was eventually sorted out and Lopez was allowed to join the UFC.[11] He lost the bout via unanimous decision.[12]

Lopez faced Anthony Birchak, replacing Felipe Colares, on November 7, 2020, at .[13] He won the fight via a submission in round one.[14]

Lopez faced Adrian Yañez on March 20, 2021, at UFC on ESPN 21.[15] He lost the fight via knockout in round three.[16]

Lopez faced Alateng Heili on September 18, 2021, at UFC Fight Night 192.[17] The fight ended up with a draw.[18]

After the draw, it was announced that Lopez was no longer on the UFC roster.[19]

Post UFC

In his first bout after his UFC release, Lopez faced Filip Macek on December 30, 2022, at Oktagon 38 for the Interim OKMMA Bantamweight Championship, winning the bout and the title via guillotine choke at the end of the first round.[20]

He would face reigning champion Jonas Mågård on April 15, 2023 at Okatgon 41, losing the bout in the second round via TKO stoppage.[21]

He would attempt to rebound against Beno Adamia on October 7, 2023 at Oktagon 47, however he would end up losing the bout via unanimous decision.[22]

Championships and accomplishments

Mixed martial arts record

|-|Loss|align=center||Beno Adamia|Decision (unanimous) |OKTAGON 47||align=center|3 |align=center|5:00 |Bratislava, Slovakia||-|Loss|align=center|13–7–1|Jonas Mågård|TKO (punches)|OKTAGON 41||align=center|2|align=center|0:31|Liberec, Czech Republic||-|Win|align=center|13–6–1|Filip Macek|Submission (guillotine choke)|OKTAGON 38||align=center|1|align=center|4:44|Prague, Czech Republic||-|Draw|align=center|12–6–1|Alateng Heili|Draw (unanimous)| ||align=center|3|align=center|5:00|Las Vegas, Nevada, United States| |-|Loss|align=center|12–6|Adrian Yañez|KO (punch)|||align=center|3|align=center|0:27 |Las Vegas, Nevada, United States||-| Win| align=center| 12–5| Anthony Birchak|Submission (rear-naked choke)|||align=center|1|align=center|2:43|Las Vegas, Nevada, United States||-| Loss| align=center| 11–5| Merab Dvalishvili|Decision (unanimous)|||align=center|3|align=center|5:00|Las Vegas, Nevada, United States||-| Win| align=center| 11–4| Joey Ruquet|KO (punch)| Combate 42| | align=center| 1| align=center| 1:45| Lake Tahoe, Nevada, United States| |-| Win| align=center| 10–4| José Alday| TKO (punches)| Combate 33| | align=center| 1| align=center| 2:19| Tucson, Arizona, United States| |-| Win| align=center|9–4| Vicente Marquez| Submission (shoulder choke)| Combate 29| | align=center| 1| align=center| 0:50| Fresno, California, United States||-| Loss| align=center|8–4|José Alday| Decision (split)| Combate 24| | align=center| 3| align=center| 5:00| Phoenix, Arizona, United States||-|Loss|align=center|8–3|Andre Ewell|KO (punch)|KOTC: Energetic Pursuit||align=center|1|align=center|4:44|Ontario, California, United States||-| Win| align=center|8–2| Chris Dempsey|Submission (armbar)|ExciteFight: Conquest of the Cage||align=center|1|align=center|1:19|Airway Heights, Washington, Washington||-| Win| align=center|7–2| Steve Swanson|Submission (guillotine choke)|Combate Americas 10||align=center|1|align=center|2:34|Mexico City, Mexico||-| Loss| align=center|6–2| John Castañeda| TKO (punches)| Combate Americas 9: Empire Rising| | align=center| 4| align=center| 2:24| Verona, New York, United States||-| Win| align=center| 6–1| Saul Elizondo| TKO (punches)|Combate 7||align=center|2|align=center|4:07|Los Angeles, California, United States| |-| Win| align=center| 5–1| Joey Ruquet| Submission (rear-naked choke)| Combate Americas: Road to the Championship 2||align=Center|2|align=center|4:06|Hollywood, California, United States| |-| Win| align=center| 4–1| Mauricio Diaz| Decision (unanimous)| Combate Americas: Road to the Championship 1| | align=center| 3| align=center| 5:00| Las Vegas, Nevada, United States| |-| Win| align=center| 3–1| Sean Cantor| Submission (rear-naked choke)| Bellator 2014 Monster Energy Cup||align=center|1|align=center|4:39|Whitney, Nevada, United States| |-| Win| align=center| 2–1| Dylan Atkinson| TKO (punches)| CageSport 25| | align=center| 2| align=center| 1:12| Tacoma, Washington, United States| |-| Loss| align=center| 1–1| Kasey White| Decision (unanimous)| CageSport 24| | align=center| 3| align=center| 5:00| Tacoma, Washington, United States||-| Win| align=center| 1–0| Jorey Taylor| TKO (punches)| CageSport 20| | align=center| 1| align=center| 1:47| Tacoma, Washington, United States|[23]

See also

Notes and References

  1. http://boxing.nv.gov/uploadedFiles/boxingnvgov/content/results/2020_Results/06-13-20MMA.pdf Mixed martial arts show results Date: June 13, 2020
  2. Web site: Stats UFC. 2020-10-04. ufcstats.com.
  3. News: Gustavo Lopez: Combate's Champion. Ryan Dorfman. mymmanews.com.
  4. Web site: Gustavo Lopez UFC. UFC.com. 11 June 2020. March 21, 2021.
  5. Web site: Gustavo López, peleador de MMA, se repuso a la pérdida de su padre usando el deporte. Alberto Pérez. April 17, 2017. dailypress.com.
  6. Web site: 2020-02-01. Wapato's Lopez thankful for MMA success, community support. 2020-02-01. Yakima herald. en.
  7. Web site: Bellator MMA 'Monster Energy Cup' results from Oct. 18 at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas. 2014-08-18. mmamania. en. 2020-02-01.
  8. Web site: Combate Tahoe: Gustavo Lopez unleashes hellacious first-round KO on Joey Ruquet to retain bantamweight title. 2019-08-24. sportingnews. en. 2020-02-01.
  9. Web site: Ray Borg out of UFC on ESPN 10, Dvalisvhili now fights Combate Americas champ Lopez (UPDATE). mmajunkie.usatoday.com. Nolan King and John Morgan. 2020-06-11. 2020-06-11.
  10. Web site: Campbell McLaren says Gustavo Lopez is still under contract with Combate Americas. Amy Kaplan. June 11, 2020. fansided.com.
  11. Shootin' the Shit Ep. 39: Gustavo Lopez. Riley Kontek. January 25, 2021. YouTube.
  12. Web site: Bitter. Shawn. 2020-06-13. UFC on ESPN 10 Results: Merab Dvalishvili's Pace Too Much for Gustavo Lopez. 2020-06-14. Cageside Press. en-US.
  13. Web site: DNA. MMA. 2020-11-04. Anthony Birchak keert terug in de UFC, treft Gustavo Lopez aanstaande zaterdag in Las Vegas. 2020-11-04. MMA DNA. en-US.
  14. Web site: Evanoff. Josh. 2020-11-07. UFC Vegas 13 Results: Gustavo Lopez Finishes Anthony Birchak. 2020-11-08. Cageside Press. en-US.
  15. Web site: DNA. MMA. 2020-12-08. Adrian Yanez treft Gustavo Lopez tijdens UFC evenement op 20 maart 2021. 2020-12-08. MMA DNA. en-US.
  16. Web site: Behunin. Alex. 2021-03-20. UFC Vegas 22 Results: Adrian Yanez KO's Gustavo Lopez In Third Round. 2021-03-21. Cageside Press. en-US.
  17. Web site: Boussenaf. Jamal. 2021-07-21. Gustavo Lopez en Heili Alateng treffen elkaar op 18 september. 2021-07-22. MMA DNA. en-US.
  18. Web site: Behunin. Alex. 2021-09-18. UFC Vegas 37 Results: Gustavo Lopez vs. Heili Alateng Ends In A Draw. 2021-09-18. Cageside Press. en-US.
  19. Web site: Tabuena. Anton. 2022-02-10. Report: 11 more fighters removed from UFC roster. 2022-02-10. Bloody Elbow. en.
  20. Web site: Head . Simon . 2022-12-30 . Oktagon 38 results: Gustavo Lopez crowned interim bantamweight champion on spectacular night in Prague . 2022-12-31 . Fighters Only . en-US.
  21. Web site: Head . Simon . 2023-04-18 . Oktagon 41: Jonas Magard unifies bantamweight titles with TKO finish in Liberec . 2023-11-11 . Fighters Only . en-US.
  22. Web site: Staff . 2023-10-07 . Oktagon 47: Vemola vs. Langer Full Results . 2023-11-11 . Cageside Press . en-US.
  23. Web site: Sherdog.com. Gustavo Lopez. 2020-08-07. Sherdog.