At the 2006 South American Games the 18-year-old Lopes lost the final to Darley Perez. He won the Pan American Junior Championships but lost the quarterfinal at the World Junior Championships 2006 to eventual winner Roniel Iglesias, 24:39.[1] In the final of the 2007 Senior Pan American Games he lost to Cuban world champion Yordenis Ugás.[2]
In 2007, he had two professional MMA fights in Brazil, losing to Alexandre Aranha by Submission and defeating Edmilson Domingos.
He won the 2008 Dominican tournament "Copa Independencia" vs. local Jonathan Batista who had beaten him in the final the year before.[3] At the first Olympic qualifier he lost again to Ugas, at the second he beat fighters like Francisco Vargas to qualify for Beijing. There, fighting at lightweight, he was upset by little-known Asylbek Talasbaev 7:9.[4]
