Louie “El Loco” Lopez is fired up.
The battle-tested Great Falls, MT product is ready to kick 2024 off with a bang against Bryan Duran (5-0) at BKFC 57 on Feb. 2 at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, FL, LIVE on The BKFC App.
“I’m so excited – I’m so happy,” Lopez says with a big smile.
“I’m not trying to show too much emotion so I can let it all out when the bell rings, but I’m super stoked and I’m working harder than I’ve ever worked before.”
It might not sound like it, but Lopez is coming off a loss. He was defeated by the unbeaten Kai “Hefty Bag” Stewart in their showdown for the inaugural BKFC World Featherweight Championship at BKFC 44 in June. But "El Loco" is more motivated than ever after falling short in the biggest fight of his career, so he jumped at the opportunity to toe the line against Duran, who’s knocked out all five of his first opponents in the Squared Circle (a BKFC record).
“This is an awesome fight for me,” he says. “I’m even more excited for this fight than my title fight, believe it or not … I’m coming for war.”
Lopez is the No. 1 contender in the stacked BKFC featherweight division. He isn’t looking past Duran, but he hopes he’ll get a shot at redemption against the champ Stewart later this year.
“I know he’s trying to call for a bigger name, but it just seems right to have a rematch,” he says.
“I solemnly swear, if the rematch doesn’t go my way, I’ll leave the title fight alone and start climbing again from the bottom of the rankings. But let me run that back one more time first.”
