With Brian Ortega out, Dan Ige steps in to face Diego Lopes in new UFC 303 co-main event

A very late change has been made to the UFC 303 co-main event.

Brian Ortega was ruled medically unable to compete on Saturday night after struggling through a weight cut that forced his fight against Diego Lopes to move from featherweight to lightweight. According to the broadcast, Ortega had a 103 degree fever and he was pulled from the card.

Now Ortega has been ruled out and Dan Ige will replace him against Lopes in the new fight announced prior to the start of the UFC 303 pay-per-view main card. The fight takes place at a catchweight of 165 pounds.

It’s a wild turn of events, with Ige accepting the opportunity to fight Lopes on the shortest notice in UFC history because he wasn’t even scheduled to compete at UFC 303. Ige dropped a teaser on Twitter that clearly alluded to the fight he accepted against Lopes.

“So you wanna be a BMF?” Ige wrote.

With a 3-1 record in his past four fights, Ige is a threat even if he’s taking the fight with no training camp or preparation to get ready to face one of the fastest rising stars on the entire UFC roster. Most recently, Ige knocked out Andre Fili in the first round back in February. He just recently booked a fight against Chepe Mariscal in July.

Now Ige clashes with Lopes, who comes into the fight off three straight wins — all by finish — including a stunning knockout over Sodiq Yusuff at UFC 300 in April.

Lopes vs. Ige joins the UFC 303 lineup, with the main event still set as Alex Pereira defends his light heavyweight title against Jiri Prochazka.