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By James Brizuela
Contributing Writer
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UFC 303 has gone through plenty of drama these past few weeks. After it was revealed that Conor McGregor and Jamahal Hill suffered injuries, the organization began to scramble to save the two top fights on the card. McGregor was set to face off against Michael Chandler and Hill would take on Carlos Ulberg.
Read more: Conor McGregor Reveals Gruesome Injury That Led to UFC 303 Fight Cancelation
The McGregor fight was replaced by a rematch between Alex Pereira and Jiří Procházka. Hill was then replaced by Anthony Smith, but Ulberg was also injured — resulting in Smith then taking on Roman Dolidze. Instead of that being the co-main event, the UFC then switched gears and booked Brian Ortega and Diego Lopes as the co-main event, which has now suffered its own drama.
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Ortega apparently could not make the weight needed for a featherweight bout, which is 145 pounds, with the non-title fight limit being 146. UFC insider and analyst Ariel Helwani broke down the situation on his X page.
According to Helwani, "I said earlier in the week that this was the weight cut that concerned me the most because Ortega said that he was bulking up for a move to 55 [155 pounds], potentially in Sep."
Helwani indicates that Ortega had already been working to gain weight in preparation for a lightweight bout — potentially on the fight booked for the Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada for UFC 306 in September.
Instead, the UFC contacted Ortega and asked if he could step up instead to fight on the UFC 303 card. With only a couple of weeks' notice, Ortega would be in danger of making such a massive weight cut. Lopes' team was then contacted early in the AM on Friday to indicate that Ortega was around 151 pounds and had to begin rehydrating. It was either take the fight at lightweight or see it canceled.
Lopes agreed to the terms, and now his fight with Ortega will be at 155 pounds, the lightweight class. Helwani also indicated on X that Lopes is being compensated for the troubles having to alter his weight incurred.
Most fighters have to make weight cuts to weigh in at the proper poundage, and gain a ton of weight after said weight cuts. According to the National Library of Medicine, a study indicated that "The data also suggest that athletes gain nearly 10% of total weight between the official weigh-in and competition."
UFC fighters can often tack back up to 10% of their weight back after cutting down. So, it stands to reason that most 145-pound featherweights walk around at the lightweight range of 155.
The issue with this could be that both Ortega and Lopes weighing in at 155 pounds for lightweight could mean they are going to tack on weight that could place them close to the welterweight limit of 170 pounds.
This extra weight could impact the speed of both fighters. Still, Lopes did not back down from this last-minute change and will take on Ortega at the lightweight level.
The good news is if Lopes gets a victory at lightweight, he could think about leaping up to the lightweight division at some point. That is just speculation, as Lopes is one of the biggest contenders at the featherweight division, and could be angling to instead challenge Sean O'Malley for the featherweight title.
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