UFC 303 noticed one final withdrawal Saturday, with veteran featherweight Brian Ortega dropping out on the final minute and leaving the occasion to announce its fourth totally different co-main combat.
Minutes earlier than the beginning of the principle card in Las Vegas, the UFC’s ESPN broadcast introduced Ortega had withdrawn from his combat on account of an sickness that prompted a fever of 103 levels. His beforehand scheduled opponent, Diego Lopes, will as a substitute face Dan Ige within the co-main occasion.
🚨 BREAKING NEWS 🚨
Dan Ige is stepping in on 3 HOURS NOTICE to face Diego Lopes within the #UFC303 co-main occasion.
Brian Ortega has withdrawn on account of sickness.
[ Watch LIVE on ESPN+ PPV | 10pmET/7pmPT ] pic.twitter.com/Q9FSaULiEL
— UFC (@ufc) June 30, 2024
The co-main will now be a 165-pound catchweight bout for Lopes and Ige, who confirmed as much as the sector and weighed in throughout the preliminary card. Nevada State Athletic Fee govt director Jeff Mullen instructed ESPN that Ige was allowed to step in as a result of he was scheduled to combat at UFC Apex in three weeks, so his medicals have been already updated.
Ortega had already prompted the UFC to vary the combat from featherweight to light-weight on account of weight-cutting points.
UFC 303 has seen Conor McGregor, Jamahal Hill and extra withdraw
Withdrawals have been a recurring theme for UFC 303. The occasion was initially introduced with a most important occasion that includes Conor McGregor’s return to the Octagon in opposition to Michael Chandler, with a co-main occasion between former mild heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill and Khalil Rountree Jr.
A tainted complement prompted Rountree to withdraw from the co-main, with Carlos Ulberg stepping in as a substitute. Then McGregor and Hill each needed to withdraw with accidents, leaving the UFC to scramble. The top end result was a brand new most important occasion between mild heavyweight champ Alex Pereira and former champ Jiřà Procházka and the co-main between Lopes and Ortega.
Ulberg was left to face Anthony Smith, till Ulberg too withdrew and was changed by Roman Dolidze. So the highest three fights on the cardboard have now seen a complete of six withdrawals.
And that is not even the tip of it, as fights between Gillian Robertson and Michelle Waterson-Gomez, Cody Durden and Carlos Hernandez, and Andrei Arlovski and Martin Buday have been all scheduled and subsequently postponed or altered.
Lengthy story brief, it has been a busy few weeks for Dana White, who additionally needed to cope with Khamzat Chimaev withdrawing from his bout in opposition to Robert Whittaker final week. Whittaker made brief work of substitute Ikram Aliskerov.