Diego Lopes riding four-fight win streak following victory over Dan Ige in UFC 303 co-main event
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, June 29, 2024, for UFC 303, going down live from the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada.
Headlining the event is a light-heavyweight championship rematch between current champion Alex Pereira (10-2) and no. 1 ranked former champion Jiri Prochazka (30-4-1).
Co-headlining the event is a 165 lb catchweight bout between a pair of featherweight contenders in no. 13 ranked Dan Ige (18-8) and no. 14 ranked Diego Lopes (25-6), a literal last-minute replacement as no. 3 ranked former title challenger Brian Ortega withdrew from his scheduled clash with Lopes with a fever just a couple short hours ago.
Ige came into the contest off a knockout win over Andre Fili in February and had gone 3-1 over his last four, while Lopes came in on a three-fight first round finish streak following defeat to no. 5 ranked Movsar Evloev in his UFC debut, making him 3-1 in his last four as well.
Continue reading to see how our UFC 303 co-main event went down:
Official Result: Diego Lopes def. Dan Ige via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Lopes let go on hook combinations throughout the opening five minutes, many of which he added leg kicks at the end of. He also went for knees up the middle and immediately attempted a guillotine choke when Ige took him down about four minutes in.
Lopes soon after switched it to a D’Arce choke and had Ige in deep trouble in the final seconds of the opening round.
Ige landed a head kick that allowed Lopes to secure a takedown of his own in the second where he took Ige’s back, holding back mount for much of round two.
Ige began to really bust Lopes up in the third and final round as Lopes was tiring, landing several heavy punches to the head of the Brazilian. Lopes tied up with Ige and nearly took his back, but was eventually shrugged off and spent the remaining 90 or so seconds on his back eating heavy shots from bottom position.
The scorecards were spot on in this one.
Lopes looked great early on but faded late. And honestly who could blame him? He cut to 146 lbs, weighed in yesterday at 155 lbs after agreeing to fight at a higher weight in favor of his opponent, and fought someone tonight that weighed 165 lbs and didn’t cut weight at all. Not to mention the complete change in opponent.
Diego Lopes deserves all the respect in the world, as does Dan Ige. Lopes is now riding a four-fight win streak inside the UFC following victory tonight at UFC 303.
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