Brian Ortega vs. Diego Lopes rebooked for Noche UFC at Sphere
Brian Ortega and Diego Lopes are aligned again.
Less than one month after their UFC 303 fight fell apart on fight day, the promotion announced a new date and location for the matchup. Barring more unforeseen circumstances, Ortega (16-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) and Lopes (25-6 MMA, 4-1 UFC) will collide Sept. 14 at Sphere in Las Vegas, as part of Noche UFC (UFC 306).
UFC CEO Dana White announced the booking Friday on social media.
The first attempt to make this fight happen failed when Ortega fell ill hours before the fight. Ortega had also struggled to make featherweight ahead of the bout, so it had been tweaked to lightweight instead.
In an unprecedented move, Las Vegas resident Dan Ige fought in his place vs. Lopes after a special weigh-in. Lopes defeated Ige by unanimous decision.
The victory was Lopes’ fourth in a row. He also holds UFC victories over Gavin Tucker, Pat Sabatini and Sodiq Yusuff.
Ortega looks to extend a standalone victory over Yair Rodriguez into a winning streak. Prior to the cancellation vs. Lopes, Ortega told MMA Junkie he was preparing for a shift to lightweight.
With the addition, the Noche UFC lineup includes:
- Champ Sean O’Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili – for bantamweight title
- Champ Alexa Grasso vs. Valentina Shevchenko – for women’s flyweight title
- Diego Lopes vs. Brian Ortega
- Esteban Ribovics vs. Daniel Zellhuber
- Ode Osbourne vs. Ronaldo Rodriguez
- Irene Aldana vs. Norma Dumont
- Ignacio Bahamondes vs. Manuel Torres
- Yazmin Jauregui vs. Ketlen Souza
- Kevin Borjas vs. Edgar Chairez
- Raul Rosas Jr. vs. Aori Qileng
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Noche UFC.