On December 24, 2011 it was announced that Salido and Juan Manuel López would meet again this time in López's home country of Puerto Rico on March 31, 2012. With Salido defending his WBO title for the second time. In the fight, Salido wobbled López in the fifth round but was knocked down by López with a counter right hand as Salido went on the attack. Early in the tenth round, Salido landed a hard three punch combination, knocking López down. López came back on his feet, but was on very unsteady legs. Referee Roberto Ramirez waved the bout off. Although Salido dominated the bout by out-landing and outworking his López in every round except the first, two judges surprisingly had Lopez ahead, while one judge saw the bout as a draw after nine rounds. Round 9 emerged as 'Round of the Year' candidate as around 200 punches were thrown in toe-to-toe action. After the fight López said in an interview with Showtime that he felt he was dominating the bout and alleged that the referee stopped the fight early due to a gambling problem. Due to these comments the WBO suspended López for one year.