Ige called in hours before UFC 303 to replace ill fighter in co-main event
Featherweight fighters Brian Ortega, left, and Diego Lopes face off during a UFC 303 news conference Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
LAS VEGAS (AP) — An illness forced Brian Ortega to withdraw Saturday hours before his scheduled fight with Diego Lopes in the co-main event at UFC 303, and Dan Ige was called in as the replacement.
UFC President Dana White said the bout likely would have been called off if Ige hadn’t been available.
“There would have been no other options,” White said.
The match is the warm-up bout to the main event between light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira and top-ranked challenger Jiri Prochazka.
White said Ortega was running a fever and wasn't ready to go on. Ige, who is from Honolulu but trains in Las Vegas, already was in town preparing for another fight.
“It's all about opportunity,” White said. “He jumped at it. Who's hotter than Lopes right now?”
White joked that Ige likely was sitting on his couch about to order the pay-per-view when he got the call.
Jeff Mullen, executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission, told ESPN that because Ige fought Feb. 10 in Las Vegas, that made the process smoother to get him approved.
“We already had his medicals and all his requirements completed,” Mullen said. “It was a perfectly approved matchup. I checked with the attorneys to make sure everything was in order.”
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Mark Anderson, The Associated Press