![Dan Ige recalls epic last-minute fight with Diego Lopes and says he'd do it again 1 81afe5e3263c4574be3af9fabda8850e md](https://thegurumedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/81afe5e3263c4574be3af9fabda8850e_md.jpg)
TMZSports.com
And Ige was planning to watch UFC 303 like the rest of us… on the couch. But before the main card started… he found himself walking into the arena to fight Diego Lopes four hours in advance — and he says TMZ Sports he would do it all again!
We caught up with the 32-year-old days after he saved the day for the UFC on its main card for International Fight Week. Ige said he’s still on a high from the whole saga.
“The last 24 hours have been an emotional rollercoaster,” he said. “I was preparing for a night in three weeks. Then just getting the call four hours in advance and making that walk into such a huge event, saving the card, UFC 303 as the co-main event. 19,000 fans in the arena, getting a standing ovation. What a moment, what an opportunity.”
If you missed it, Brian Ortega Ortega was scheduled to fight Lopes in the co-main event of UFC 303. However, Ortega became ill on the day of the fight and had to pull out. Struggling to save the fight, the UFC called Ige from Las Vegas to see if he could step in and fight at 165 lbs.
A short car ride later… the shortest of last-minute fights was booked! While Ige acknowledges that what he did was “cool and crazy,” he gives props to Lopes for going through what he went through and still staying on the card.
“I read everything this kid went through. He cut down to 145, he rehydrated to (1)55, and then his opponent gets sick and goes down. So he’s probably thinking I’m not even fighting. So they put my name in the hat. Even when they offered me, I was like, ‘This can’t even be real.'”
The 13th-ranked UFC featherweight said both men came out on top at the end of the fight, calling it “an incredible spectacle.”
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While he has no regrets, Ige would like to fight the No. 14-ranked featherweight Lopes again with time to prepare — with an eye on the UFC’s Mexican Independence Day card at the Sphere!
“We’re going to do it fairly,” Ige said. “We’re both going to cut to 145, we’re both going to prepare, we’re both going to game plan for each other and we’re going to see what happens. It was a close fight; he had his moments, and I had mine, and I finished strong. We can go five rounds!”
Sign us up for round 2!!!