Brian Ortega vs Diego Lopes: A new match added to the Sphere card

Brian Ortega and Diego Lopes are back in the lineup.

Less than a month after their fight at UFC 303 fell through, the promotion has announced a new date and venue for the fight. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Ortega (16-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) and Lopes (25-6 MMA, 4-1 UFC) will square off on September 14 at the Sphere in Las Vegas, as part of UFC Noche (UFC 306).

UFC CEO Dana White announced the booking on social media Friday.

The first attempt to stage this fight failed when Ortega fell ill just hours before the fight. Ortega had also struggled to make the featherweight division before the fight, so it was changed to lightweight instead.

In an unprecedented move, Las Vegas resident Dan Ige fought Lopes in his place after a special weigh-in. Lopes defeated Ige by unanimous decision.

This is Lopes’ fourth straight win. He also holds UFC victories over Gavin Tucker, Pat Sabatini and Sodiq Yusuff.

Ortega is hoping to extend his solo win over Yair Rodriguez into a winning streak. Before the Lopes fight was canceled, Ortega told MMA Junkie that he was preparing to move up to lightweight.

With this addition, the Noche UFC lineup includes:

• Champion Sean O’Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili – for the bantamweight title
• Champion Alexa Grasso vs. Valentina Shevchenko – for the women’s flyweight title
• Diego Lopes vs Brian Ortega
• Esteban Ribovics vs Daniel Zellhuber
• Ode Osbourne vs Ronaldo Rodriguez
• Irene Aldana vs Norma Dumont
• Ignacio Bahamondes vs. Manuel Torres
• Yazmin Jauregui vs Ketlen Souza
• Kevin Borjas vs Edgar Chairez
• Raul Rosas Jr. vs. Aori Qileng

To learn more about the card, visit MMA Junkie’s Event Hub for Noche UFC.