The commission explains how Ige/Lopes was
put together.pic.twitter.com/N2OiP4iAtu— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman)
June 30, 2024
A lot went into the making of the eventual matchup for the co-main
event at UFC
303.
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Khalil
Rountree and Jamahal
Hill were the originally scheduled co-main event for UFC 303 at
the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday before Rountree was forced out due
to a failed drug test. Carlos
Ulberg stepped in to replace Rountree but that matchup was
eventually scrapped entirely when both Hill and Ulberg withdrew
from the card. Eventually, Diego Lopes
vs. Brian
Ortega was booked as the featherweight co-main event. However,
Lopes agreed to lightweight matchup against Ortega when he learned
that “T-City” wouldn’t be able make the weight cut.
However, it was announced during the UFC 303 broadcast that the
card was to have a new co-main event, as a fever forced Ortega out
of the fight. Dan Ige, who
trains in Las Vegas at Xtreme Couture, stepped in to replace Ortega
on a few hours’ notice. And Lopes accepted the fight at a 165-pound
catchweight.
Jeff Mullen, executive director of the Nevada State Athletic
Commission, explained how the last-minute booking was put together.
Ige was also medically cleared to fight in Nevada from his
first-round knockout win over Andre Fili at
the Apex in Las Vegas in February. “50K” was also in fighting shape
as he was preparing for a scheduled UFC Fight Night co-headliner
clash against Jose
Mariscal on July 20.
“Brian
Ortega was medically unable to compete today. So, they
immediately started looking for opponents and fortunately Dan Ige, who
the 14th-ranked contender, is right here in town,” Mullen told
ESPN. “He was already licensed, he fought here in February, won by
first round knockout. So, we already had all of his medicals, all
of his requirements completed. So, he was available, they made the
fight where he’s ranked 14th and Diego is ranked 15th, so it’s a
perfect matchup. Perfectly approvable matchup.
“And again, we had everything. I checked with our attorneys, make
sure everything’s in order. He weighed in [Saturday]. He’s gonna
have a pre-fight physical today. And everything is in order. Plus,
he was already training for a fight on July 20. So, he was prepared
and ready to go. First thing I did when they proposed this was, I
talked to his trainer Eric Nicksick, and I said, ‘Is he ready?’ And
he [Nicksick] said, ‘Yeah sure, he is ready to fight tonight.’”
Mullen also noted that this wasn’t completely unprecedented in the
promotion’s history. Junior Tafa
had replaced his brother Justin Tafa
on one day’s notice against Marcos
Rogerio de Lima at UFC 298 in Anaheim, California, this past
February.
“There was a similar situation in Anaheim, California,” he said.
“One of the Tafa brothers stepped in for the other one on the day
of the fight when there was an injury.”
Lopes survived a third round scare from Ige to earn a grueling
unanimous decision win. Despite the loss, Ige is glad to have
forever etched his name in the history books by stepping up under
the conditions that he did.
“It doesn’t matter: eight weeks, six weeks, four weeks, four hours.
It doesn’t matter,” Ige said during his post-fight interview. “This
is what I live for, this is my dream. I get to wake up and do what
I love, I was literally getting a massage and I had a call from
Hunter [Campbell], Ali [Abdelaziz] and a bunch of people. They
said, ‘Hey do you want to fight tonight?’ And I was like, ‘Man this
is an opportunity to become a legend. This is the story I want to
tell my grandkids.’ I love fighting at the Apex, don’t get me
wrong, but to show up on four hours’ notice on International Fight
Week, on one of the biggest cards of the year, on the co-main
event, man I couldn’t be happier with my performance.”