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By James Brizuela
Contributing Writer
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UFC 303 was set to be one of the biggest cards the promotion has seen, with Conor McGregor taking on Michael Chandler in the main event and Jamahal Hill facing Carlos Ulberg for the co-main event. Sadly, both fights would suffer injuries to McGregor and Hill, leaving the UFC to put together last-minute fights.
Read more: UFC 303 Co-Main Event Forced to Move Up a Weight Class
Alex Pereira was called on to rematch with Jiří Procházka for the light heavyweight belt. Diego Lopes and Brian Ortega also agreed to a featherweight bout as the co-main event. In the days leading up to the fight, Ortega revealed that he could not make the featherweight limit of 145 pounds, and asked Lopes and the UFC to move the fight up to the 155-pound lightweight range. This was agreed on.
Then on the day of the fight, a wild turn of events occurred. It was announced that Ortega was massively ill, and the UFC had to find a last-minute fighter to take on Lopes. They would find that in Dan Ige, who stepped in to fight Lopes on a half a day's notice.
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It is uncharacteristic for Ortega to miss fights, but he has now detailed the health scare that led to his having to pull out of facing Lopes.
According to a post from Ortega on his Instagram page:
"I'm feeling much better, thank you for all the love. Come fight week I felt off and I didn't feel right, I thought it was just the residual effects from the cut. I was 178 lb when I accepted this fight on 15 days notice. Thursday night after 7 straight hours, I could not break 151 lb. Later, I would fight out that I was battling a fever and I could not break into the final 5 lbs as my body started to shut down. Rather than risking huge health consequences and possibly calling the fight off, thankfully we were able to move the weight to 155. At weigh ins, I still felt off but I was sure it would go away after I rehydrated and ate. Later on that night I still felt off and was suffering from cold sweats and no sleep. Finally, I fell asleep at 6 am Saturday morning and woke up at 1 pm hoping to feel better. I could not keep any food or water down nor could I stand up to use the restroom.
I struggled with my own ego, got on a call with Tiki (Ghosn) and Hunter (Campbell), and I made the decision to call off the fight. I dared to do something crazy for the love of fighting, but I got sick and my body gave out on me. I want to give the fans and my opponents my best performance every time I step into the cage. Diego Lopes I can only imagine what went off on your side, you have nothing but my respect and I'll talk to Hunter and Tiki and make this right by you. To the UFC, Dana, Hunter, and the fans, thank you for having my back."
Ortega attempted to cut weight down from 178 pounds to the limit of 146 pounds for the fight against Lopes, but he couldn't get past 151. Attempting to cut 32 pounds in a week is insane in and of itself.
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The fight was then moved to 155 pounds, which Ortega revealed he was at 151. Still, the weight cut impacted him in a very frightening way. Had Ortega attempted to maintain a weight of 155, he could have done some irreparable damage to his body.
Thankfully, he had the foresight to call UFC CEO Dana White and UFC Chief Business Officer Hunter Campbell to alert them he would be unable to fight Lopes in his condition.
Longtime MMA insider Ariel Helwani also indicated that Ortega had been training to move up to lightweight to fight at UFC 306 at The Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada on Sep. 14.
On a couple of weeks' notice, Ortega then attempted what some might view as impossible: cutting his weight down to 146 pounds. That clearly did not happen, and he put himself in danger by even cutting to 151 pounds.
The good news is Lopes and Ige were able to fight, and Lopes emerged victorious. He also indicated he would fight Ortega or Ige again, and it sounds like Ortega is also aiming to fight Lopes in a rematch sometime soon.
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