Brian Ortega withdrew from his UFC 303 fight against Diego Lopes due to severe illness and weight-cutting issues, despite efforts to adjust the fight’s weight limit and his determination to compete.
Brian Ortega broke his silence on Wednesday. He endured a disastrous UFC 303 fight week, ending with him dropping out of his fight against Diego Lopes just hours before he was scheduled to compete.
The two-time featherweight title challenger released a statement addressing the ordeal. It began after he accepted the fight against Lopes just two weeks prior to UFC 303, following the withdrawal of original headliner Conor McGregor.
Ortega knew he had to drop quite a bit of weight to get down to the 146-pound limit for a non-title fight. He seemed confident in getting the job done.
That all changed after he arrived in Las Vegas for fight week activities.
“Come fight week, I felt off and I didn’t feel right,” Ortega said on Instagram. “I thought it was just the residual effects from the [weight] cut. I was 178 pounds when I accepted this fight on 15 days’ notice.”
“Thursday night after seven straight hours, I could not break 151 pounds,” he continued. “Later, I would find out that I was battling a fever and could not break into the final five pounds as my body started to shut down.”
Rather than risking huge health consequences and possibly calling off the fight, they moved the weight to 155. At weigh-ins, Ortega still felt off but hoped it would go away after rehydrating and eating.
Despite an extra 10-pound allowance, Ortega still didn’t bounce back from the weight cut. He really started feeling sick overnight leading into Saturday’s scheduled fight.
“Later on that night, I still felt off and was suffering from cold sweats and no sleep,” Ortega wrote. “Finally, I fell asleep at 6 a.m. Saturday morning and woke up at 1 p.m., hoping to feel better.”
“I could not keep any food or water down nor could I stand up to use the restroom,” he added.
Realizing he was dealing with an illness on top of his weight cut struggles, Ortega called his manager and UFC to inform them he couldn’t fight.
“I struggled with my own ego,” Ortega admitted. “Got on a call with Tiki [Ghosn] and Hunter [Campbell], and made the decision to call off the fight.”
“I dared to do something crazy for love of fighting but got sick; my body gave out on me,” he confessed. “I want to give fans and opponents my best performance every time I step into the cage.”
Ortega also addressed Lopes directly after Lopes initially cut down to featherweight, then gained a few pounds for lightweight, only to get an entirely different opponent in Dan Ige just hours before competing.
“Diego Lopes, I can only imagine what went off on your side,” Ortega said empathetically. “You have nothing but my respect; I’ll talk to Hunter and Tiki and make this right by you.”
“To UFC, Dana [White], Hunter and fans—thank you for having my back,” he added gratefully.
Lopes has stated his interest in running it back with Ortega so long as it happens at featherweight. It remains uncertain if UFC still wants that matchup.
As for Ortega? He previously mentioned plans to move up eventually but didn’t address his future directly in Wednesday’s statement.