Dan Ige will fight Diego Lopes on two hours notice, and the Nevada State Athletic Commission says it’s completely above board and legal.
It’s official: Brian Ortega is out of his UFC 303 fight against Diego Lopes, and Dan Ige is in on less than two hours’ notice.
Things started going sideways for Ortega following a flubbed weigh-in. His late notice fight against Lopes was originally set for 145 pounds, but officials switched the fight to 155 pounds in the early hours of weigh-in day.
But “T-City” continued to struggle after that, and has been sick ever since. On the UFC 303 prelims broadcast, Jon Anik reported Ortega had a fever of 103.
Lopes and Ige weighing in under 165 lbs pic.twitter.com/VJTRdCiWnw
— MMA Mania (@mmamania) June 30, 2024
Enter Dan Ige, who weighed in at the T-Mobile Arena in front of Nevada Athletic Commission officials. Lopes also weighed in again, and now the two will fight in what is being called a 165 pound catchweight.
NAC Executive Director Jeff Mullen explained how the last minute match up was possible.
“Dan Ige is right here in town, he was already licensed, he fought here in February,” Mullen said. “He won by 1st round knockouts. We already had all of his medicals, all of his requirements completed. So he was available. They made the fight.”
“He’s ranked 14th, and Diego’s ranked 15th. So it’s a perfect match up, perfectly approvable match up. And, again, we had everything. Everything. I checked with our attorneys to make sure everything was in order. He was weighed in today. He’s gonna have a pre-fight physical today, and everything is in order.
NSAC executive director Jeff Mullen explains Ige/Lopes
pic.twitter.com/v7c2bjnTh2— MMA Mania (@mmamania) June 30, 2024
“Plus, he was already training for a fight on July 20th, so he was prepared and ready to go,” Mullen added. “First thing I did when they proposed this was I talked to his trainer, Eric Nicksick, and I said, ‘Is he ready?’ And he assured me yes. He’s ready to fight tonight.”
Has this ever happened in the history of combat sports?
“Yeah, there was a similar situation in Anaheim, California where one of the Topher brothers stepped in for the other one on the day of the fight when there was an injury or illness.”
It sucks that we’ve lost Ortega, especially when he was already a consolation fight to make up for the loss of Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler. But you gotta hand it to the UFC — they keep getting served lemons, and keep making lemonade. Lopes vs. Ige is a pretty great last-second fight. Let us know who you got in the comments below!