UFC star Dan Ige fought on just three hours notice after being called up to face Diego Lopes.
Lopes was originally scheduled to fight Brian Ortega in the co-main event of UFC 303 in Las Vegas on Saturday night, but Ortega was not medically cleared because of an illness. Ige then sent UFC boss Hunter Campbell a message after hearing the news about Ortega's illness. "Hey Hunter, I've been in camp for three months," he wrote.
"I'm the healthiest I've ever been. I can fight this guy tonight and beat him. This is what legends are made of, I'm ready. Please don't take this opportunity away from me." Ige put on an impressive showing given his last-minute call-up but lost on points to Lopes, who won by scores of 29-28 on all three judges' scorecards.
Ige replaced Brian Ortega to face Lopes"Eight weeks, six weeks or just four hours, it doesn't matter," Ige said after his loss. "This is what I live for, this is my dream. I was getting a massage and I got the call from Hunter about fighting tonight. These are the stories that I want to tell my grandkids. I couldn’t be happier with my performance."
UFC 303 was supposed to be headlined Conor McGregor's comeback fight against Michael Chandler, but the Irishman pulled out of his return just two weeks before the event after breaking his toe in a sparring session. Chandler had a meeting with the UFC on Friday night to discuss a potential date for the rescheduled date.
UFC champion demands to know how Conor McGregor has become so "jacked"
"People can talk about what my motivation is for waiting and sitting out for as long as I have," Chandler said. "I signed my name on the dotted line last January to fight Conor McGregor and I try to be a man of my word in every aspect of my life, so that's what my number one goal is."
"Sources close to Conor know that he is going to be ready in September or even August, so we can make some things happen." McGregor hasn't won a fight in over four years and suffered a devastating injury in his last outing when he broke his leg against Dustin Poirier in their trilogy bout.
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