In Vancouver on June 10th, UFC bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes will face a challenger in Irene Aldana. Aldana’s jiu-jitsu coach, Diego Lopes from Mexico’s Lobo Gym, believes Aldana has the potential to cause another upset along the lines of Alexa Grasso’s rear-naked choke win over Valentina Shevchenko in March. Lopes has praised Aldana’s punching ability and feels it could be decisive against Nunes.

While acknowledging that Nunes is a formidable opponent, Lopes has confidence that Aldana has the power and skill to win. Despite being considered unbeatable at one point, Shevchenko lost her flyweight championship to Grasso, proving that upsets are possible.

Lopes anticipates that Aldana’s boxing technique could provide the shock factor the Mexican fighter needs to beat Nunes. Aldana has already knocked out top-ranked bantamweight Ketlen Vieira and beaten Yana Santos and Macy Chiasson by knockout in previous UFC appearances.

Nunes has won 13 out of her last 14 UFC fights since 2015, including twice against Shevchenko when she was competing at 135 pounds. Nunes recently defeated Julianna Peña, but Aldana has stepped in as a replacement for the third bout with Peña. Lopes expressed that his team is used to fighting opponents like Nunes. He compares this fight to Grasso’s bout against Shevchenko by seeing that many considered Shevchenko unbeatable, but Grasso went ahead to bag the win.

Lopes believes the Aldana-Nunes confrontation will be special since it will lead to another UFC belt for the team and the fourth from Mexico. Lopes also talked about his other team members. On July 8, interim titleholder Yair Rodriguez will fight to unify the 145-pound gold with Alexander Volkanovski in a championship at UFC 290. Brandon Moreno will defend his 125-pound throne against Alexandre Pantoja in the co-main event.

Lopes shared that he hopes Moreno can defend the belt and keep Mexico’s effort to win the championship going. However, he admits that Pantoja already beat Brandon twice—once when they were on The Ultimate Fighter and again in the UFC. It would be interesting to see what both fighters bring to the table in this upcoming bout, Lopes said. He emphasized that he’s excited to watch both fights, taking notes on each fighter’s skills.