The UFC brass pulled a Houdini and landed a huge last-minute replacement fight for the UFC 303 co-main event before the PPV.
Diego Lopes was expecting to meet Brian Ortega in an initially planned featherweight matchup inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on June 29th. The weight class was changed to 155 pounds after it was clear that Ortega wouldn't be able to make the 145-pound limit.Rumors swirled claiming that Ortega was being replaced by Dan Ige with just a short period of time left before the PPV portion of UFC 303.
UFC play-by-play commentator Jon Anik revealed that Brian Ortega woke up with a fever and his temperature of 103 degrees did not go down as time passed.It's a stunning achievement for the UFC brass given the fight change was put together at the absolute 11th hour. A lot of questions were raised before the announcement was made on how exactly Ige would be cleared by the NSAC to compete given the circumstances.
Anik explained that Ige actually did weigh in and was cleared without issue. Megan Olivi then interviewed Jeff Mullen of the NSAC, who explained that Ige's medicals were already on record due to his fight back in February.Fernando has over a decade of combat sports news writing experience. He currently covers MMA, boxing, and pro wrestling. Fernando joined MMA Knockout as the Lead Writer/Editor when it was founded in 2023.
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