MMA

Gustavo Lopez: I grew up in poverty, my parents worked hard to allow me to fulfill my dreams. Magard will be just another victim

Liberec will host the first ever gala evening of the largest Czechoslovak organization. OKTAGON 41 will even offer one title battle. The champion Jonas Magard will be challenged by the interim title holder Gustavo Lopez, who playfully swept Filip Macek. Now, the UFC veteran takes a closer look at the fans.

Published

1 year ago

7. 4. 2023

Pavel Langr

Lopez remains grateful to his parents. How did he get into MMA?

Gustavo Lopez boasts an illustrious and interesting career. After all, he also fought in the UFC, where he measured his strength, for example, with Merab Dvalishvili, currently the absolute top of the bantamweight division.

He came to MMA in a rather unusual way. He started wrestling in high school and among his friends there were people who were already involved in MMA.

“One of my friends had an MMA fight. I was helping him prepare and went to his corner. It’s just that at the tournament, one of their fighters dropped out of the main prelims, so the promoters asked me if I would step in. I won by KO in 7 seconds and I realized this was something I could do properly,” Lopez recalls.

And who is Gustavo anyway? “Just another normal guy who is following his dreams and trying to turn them into reality. My childhood was typical of Hispanics. We were poor. My parents worked hard to allow me to follow my dreams,” the interim Octagon champion introduces himself to fans

He has no wife, no children, yet he clearly lacks nothing in his life. Apart from MMA, he is involved in business and his scope is very wide. He rents out properties, cars, even started an MMA organization, and overall helps some fighters with their careers. Outside of that though, he also handles tax help and helps other people with their businesses.

“I may be a businessman, but I do wrestling full time. My business is on the back burner. I’m doing what I love. I get up in the morning, I train every day and sometimes I have a business meeting. It’s two different worlds. But I’m a full-time warrior, a part-time businessman,” Lopez said.

Magard will be just another victim, Lopez is clear

Gustavo Lopez is now the “only” interim champion, but he wants to claim the title in Liberec on April 15. To do that, he has to beat Jonas Magard, a man who not only likes to do, but also likes to talk.

Lopez knows that. Magard is constantly teasing him, trying to get inside his head. But is the UFC veteran making a fool of him? No, he’s not.

“I don’t care about him. I don’t even remember his name. He has a rant on everybody, but it doesn’t affect me. When the fight is over, it’s over. I’m just focusing on me. Magard will just be another victim,” he revealed what he thinks of his opponent.

Lopez comes across as a great likable guy and other than that, he sees himself and describes himself as a nice person. “I want to inspire people to follow their dreams, be good people and help others. But in MMA, I want to be one of the best in the world. I love competing, I love testing my limits against the best,” he adds.

Lopez arrived in the Czech Republic on Friday. He wants to get used to the time zone here. He will be in Prague until April 11, then he will move to Liberec, where he will focus on crashing.

He likes the country very much. He even wants to learn Czech and is on a very good way. Back in February he sent a message in Czech to his opponent Magard. Can he beat him? We’ll find out on April 15th.