The Diego Lopes, Dan Ige fight is even more impressive the day after
By Amy Kaplan
Just hours before the UFC co-main event between Diego Lopes and Brian Ortega was set to go down, a last-minute super secret switch took place. Ortega was deemed unable to fight due to a 103-degree fever and the UFC called Dan Ige who lives just up the road. He hopped in the car with his manager and coach and filled in for Ortega in an unprecedented move by the UFC.
And while everyone is rightfully signing the praised of Ige, there's more information coming out about Lopes and how much of a baller he is too. Lopes took the fight with Ortega on just a few weeks notice for a 145 pound bout. He was notified the morning of weigh-ins that Ortega was not going to make weight and the bout was moved to 155 pounds. And now, according to Lopes, when Ortega pulled out he was offered the fight purse without having to fight but opted to fight Ige and potentially risk his record and win bonus.
"I'll just summarize the madness that it all was. I accept the fight with 2 weeks to fight with number 3 . change of category, 145,155, 165lbs . 3 hours before the event, they change my opponent, someone who had a 3 month camp without cutting weight," he tweeted on Sunday afternoon.
Diego Lopes says he could have taken the money and not fought at UFC 303
He continued, "UFC gave us the option to not accept. I could have gotten paid without fighting. I could have said no to the fight. I was weighing 161lbs. but like I said. anyone, anytime, anywhere. In whatever weight."
We already knew he was a dog but this new development is just further proof that Lopes is cut from a different cloth. Most other fighters would have cut their losses and taken the money without fighting but that didn't even seem to occur to Lopes.