Dan Ige had a great weekend, taking part in one of the craziest pulls in modern UFC history.
Last Saturday, Ige co-headlined UFC 303 in Las Vegas. The event was the highlight of the prestigious UFC International Fight Week. This is an honor for many fighters, but what made this event crazy and unique was that he wasn't scheduled to fight on the card, but was called in just hours before the co-main event, when the card had already begun.
That's right: With just four hours' notice, Ige (18-8 MMA, 10-7 UFC) was set to face dangerous challenger Diego Lopez (24-6 MMA, 3-1 UFC) in the co-main event of UFC 303. It was a hectic and chaotic turn of events for Ige, but the irony is that he was in “full Zen mode” and listening to spa music when it all happened.
“I had a masseuse at home, and he massaged the whole family, and I was the last one,” Ige told MMA Junkie Radio, recalling the moment he got the call to fight Lopez. “I got on the table around 3pm. I was booked for an hour and a half, but I never thought it was going to be a fight.”
“I was just getting ready for Monday, recovering and getting ready for Sunday and Monday. I was just getting my body in shape to prepare for the game on July 20.”
While Ige was getting in shape, his manager and UFC executives were scrambling to acquire him. He was the ideal choice to replace an ailing Brian Ortega, who was scheduled to fight Lopez in the co-main event of the card. Ige was training and the fight was booked in Las Vegas, so he had all his medical paperwork completed and lived in the city.
“My phone was on do not disturb, but my wife came upstairs and Ali (Abdelaziz) called me. My mom said, 'Ali called me,'” Ige said. “I finally got my phone out and I had 10 missed calls from Ali, Hunter Campbell. I was like, 'What is going on?'”
“I tried to see who was calling, and it was Ali calling again, so I answered the phone. I was like, 'Hey, what's up, brother? Sorry, I'm getting a massage.' He was like, 'Brother, brother. Ortega's out.' I was like, 'Okay, sure.' He was like, 'Brother, do you want to fight Lopez?' I was like, 'Yeah, sure. Let's go.'”
Ige, who was scheduled to fight Chepe Mariscal at UFC Fight Night at the Apex on July 20, thought the Lopez-Ortega bout had been canceled and expected to get the call to fight Lopez at a later date, but we now know that what Ige's manager meant was the bout with Lopez at UFC 303, just hours later.
“I was like, 'What? No way,'” Ige said of finding out he was being asked to fight a few hours later. “Anyway, I started getting excited, so I was like, 'Yeah, let's go! Let's go!' And he was like, 'Bro, you want me to close the deal?' And I was like, 'I don't know what that means, but sure. Let's go.' And he was like, 'Okay, I'll call you back.' So I was like, that was weird.”
Abdelaziz told Ige to pack his bags and head to T-Mobile Arena because the Lopez fight was likely happening. There were still some details to be worked out, but Abdelaziz said it was 80 percent done.
“I was running around the house trying to figure out what I needed,” Ige said. “Trying to drink water. Trying to eat something, because I need energy to fight. I had yogurt and granola and honey. I had coffee and took some carbohydrate supplements. I was literally running around the house, freaking out and grabbing random things.”
Ige called head coach Eric Nicksick, who was already at the arena with Roman Dolidze in his corner, and told him what was going on. Nicksick asked no questions and quickly put together a corner at the last minute, bringing in PFL's Kai Kamaka III and former UFC champion Sean Strickland.
Abdelaziz then picked up Ige and carried him into the arena.
“I walked in and they took me to a VIP room, and there were all these celebrities there – Mark Wahlberg, Jelly Roll, Dana[White]Hunter[Campbell],” Ige said. “They said, 'How are you doing?' and boom, they took me to the scales.
“I didn't know I actually had to weigh in. I didn't even read the fight contract. They sent me the fight contract and I thought, 'Oh, great. I have money. I'm going to be paid well.' That's all I saw. I didn't know there was an actual weight class called 165.”
Luckily, Ige was within the 165 pound cutoff and had no issues weighing in. Lopez also made the scale at 161 pounds, making their co-main event bout official.
Ige found himself bandaged and with an hour and a half to go before co-headlining one of the promotion's most important cards of the year in front of 20,000 fans.
Ige lost the fight by a 29-28 unanimous decision, but put in an impressive effort in the process, and although the official record reads as a loss, Ige was happy with the experience and showed the MMA world that he is living it up.
“I didn't have any fight plans, I just went out there and had fun and I think I fought pretty well,” Ige said. “In a way, it felt like I won. I won the fame, I won the fans, I got the support of UFC so it feels good. I don't usually feel like this after losing on Tuesday, but with all the love and respect I got from the people, the fans and the media, I'm here to fight now. It was a wild night.”
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