Dan Ige stepped in on four hours’ notice to fight Diego Lopes in the co-main event of UFC 303. The fight was a fairly entertaining affair, with Lopes securing the first two and Ige bouncing back in the third.
On June 13, 2024, Ortega vs. Lopes was announced as the co-main event for UFC 303. Just before the weigh-ins, the bout was shifted to lightweight from featherweight.
Things took another turn as Ortega pulled out due to illness on fight night. This is when Ige agreed to fight Lopes at a catchweight of 165 pounds – only he didn’t even know that that was the weight limit for the fight.
Dan Ige Reveals How He Happened To Be On Weight To Fight Diego Lopes At UFC 303
Ige recently appeared on the Michael Bisping YouTube channel and discussed his initial reaction to fighting on four hours’ notice. His first thought was to eat for energy and get hydrated.
“I was in the kitchen, just grabbing things, like what am I doing? What do I do with my hands? I was just like, I gotta eat, I gotta fuel. I’m like, starting to grab things. I’m like, what do I, what do I need? I start hydrating because I was like, if I’m gonna fight, need to be hydrated.”
Amidst these worries, “50k” admits to not even checking the weight mentioned on the contract before signing it. He claims to be more intrigued by the paycheck and the opportunity to do something unprecedented.
“I didn’t even know I had to weigh in Bisping. I didn’t know how this was working. They told me, they’re like, what do you weigh? I was like, I was 164-165 this morning, somewhere along those lines. So, they sent me the contract, it said 165 for the bout agreement, I didn’t read. Only thing I read was numbers because I was like sweet, the money’s in there, we’re good.”
Ige then revealed he wasn’t expecting to weigh in officially for the fight. However, his concerns regarding missing weight and its impact on his purse were cleared as he stepped on the scale at 164.5 lbs.
The new UFC 303 co-main event was announced as soon as the short-notice fighter made weight, and the rest is history.
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