Then, on fight day, Ortega turned up with a massive fever that resulted in his being removed from the bout and replaced by Ige, a Las Vegas resident who drove to T-Mobile Arena, weighed in, and stepped into the Octagon to compete, all in the span of about four hours on Saturday.
And then Lopes and Ige delivered a captivating three-round fight, with the surging Lopes earning a unanimous decision win and Ige garnering a ton of respect for not only turning up day-of and getting down, but also for winning the final round of the three-round battle just a couple hours after he was sitting on the couch at home.
All kinds of people talk about “anyone, anywhere, any time,” but on Saturday night at UFC 303, Lopes and Ige showed they are 100 percent about that life, earning a ton of praise and respect along the way.
Honorable Mentions: Makhachev vs. Poirier, Hiestand vs. Armfield, Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Nicolas Dalby, Nasrat Haqparast vs. Jared Gordon, Andre Fili vs. Cub Swanson,