‘Paid Without Fighting’ – Dana White Offered Payday Even For Turning Down UFC 303 Fight As Diego Lopes Sums Up ‘Madness’ In Bid To Save PPV

#14 ranked featherweight Diego Lopes has been booked to face the No. 3 ranked featherweight superstar Brian Ortega in the co-main event of UFC 303 last night. However, things went horribly wrong leading up to the fight. Lopes entered UFC 303 on an impressive run, having stopped all three of his previous opponents in the first round.

And a victory over Ortega, who has only lost against great historical champions, Alexander Volkanovski And Max Holloway (and to Yair Rodriguez in 2022 due to an abnormal injury), would have allowed him to climb into the top 10 (perhaps even into the top 5, depending on his performances) and win the title. However, the fight fell apart and Ortega was replaced entirely by another fighter, as Lopes explained in a series of tweets after UFC 303.

Diego Lopes Talks UFC 303 Fiasco

Brian Ortega plans to move up to the 155-pound lightweight class soon. Perhaps because he was bulking up, “T-City” was unable to get below 151 pounds, and two days before the T-Mobile Arena event it was announced that the fight had been moved to 155 pounds. However, things took a turn for the worse when Ortega was eventually forced to withdraw from the card as he fell ill. Three hours before the event, Dana White and Co. managed to hold on to 13th place in the featherweight division Dan Ige to replace Ortega.

Additionally, because Ige had replaced the fighter at the last minute, he was unable to make weight and the fight turned into a catchweight clash at 165 pounds. And Lopes took to Twitter to describe the “craziness” that happened behind the scenes ahead of his UFC 303 fight.

“I’m just going to sum up the insanity that this whole thing was. I accept the fight with 2 weeks to fight with the number 3. Change of weight class, 145,155, 165lbs. 3 hours before the event, they change my opponent, someone who did a 3 month camp without cutting weight,” he tweeted.

Furthermore, he revealed that he could have obtained “paid without a fight” but chose to take on the challenge for one simple reason.

Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere: Diego Lopes

Furthermore, the Mexican revealed that the notoriously stingy UFC was willing to pay him even if he chose to decline the fight. However, being the true warrior that Lopes is, he didn’t even hesitate before agreeing to fight another opponent two weight classes above what he was expecting two days ago. “The UFC gave us the option not to accept. I could have gotten paid and not fought. I could have turned down the fight. I weighed 161 pounds, but like I said, anyone, anytime, anywhere. No matter the weight.” Lopes wrote in another tweet.

In the end, the Mexican managed to outplay his opponent with punches and grappling to emerge victorious at the end of their three-round co-main event fight. On the other hand, despite his defeat, Ige only earned respect through his creditable performance despite the very short notice he faced. Not to mention the added exposure and notoriety he gained from fighting in the co-main event of a PPV card, a first for “50k.” The fight was ultimately a win-win for both fighters, which is rare in combat sports.