Brian Ortega recalls being on ‘autopilot’ day of UFC 303: ‘If I step in there tonight, I’m gonna lose’

UFC 303 was a whirlwind of an International Fight Week event.

No one was impacted more by the nearly endless changes to the card than the evening’s co-main event, which wound up as Diego Lopes vs. Dan Ige. Featherweight contenders weren’t originally slated to compete in such a spot that night. However, after the main event between Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler dissolved, it forced the UFC to improvise and add Lopes vs. one-time title challenger, Brian Ortega.

Unfortunately for Ortega, his fight week was one riddled with illness that ultimately pulled him from the bout later than ever seen before in modern UFC history.

“I was confused because walking into the fight, the fight week, I felt … I don’t know, if I could kind of really put it in there, I was on autopilot, basically,” Ortega told Morning Kombat. “I was in there, and I don’t remember much, if I’m being honest, and something felt off. I thought it was the lack of food and the weight cut that I was going through because I went from 178 to 160 in a matter of like a week and a half. So, I went through like 18 pounds pretty quick and then cutting the weight, the rest of it was something that we faced after.”

Ortega, 33, made it to weigh-in day, but not until after his body gave out at 151 pounds when attempting to cut to the 146-pound limit. At roughly 4:30 A.M., Ortega realized it wasn’t happening, and the bout was shifted to a 155-pound Lightweight tilt.

Fight night saw Ige step in to save the day when Ortega withdrew roughly four hours before the co-main event. Lopes went on to defeat “Dynamite” via a fun and competitive unanimous decision. Ortega vs. Lopes has since been rebooked for Noche UFC in the Sphere next month (Sat., Sept. 14, 2024). According to Ortega, he’s currently at 170 pounds ahead of the match up.

“You go in there, training camp, cut weight, you come back, you eat food, you rehydrate again, and then you start coming back to life and I never got that feeling,” Ortega said. “I didn’t come back to life. I figured maybe just the weight cut was too drastic from 178 to 155 or attempted ‘45, and it just didn’t go in my favor.

“I told my manager, then I called him,” he continued. “I said, ‘Hey, dude, like, I’m not trying to be a you know what, but if I step in there tonight, I’m gonna lose. I don’t feel good. I don’t feel right. My everything just got sucked out of me.’ I called the UFC. We had a conversation. I said, ‘Listen, man, I’m just telling you guys where I’m at and what I’m thinking, but I’ll go in there and I’ll give it a shot and I’m at the point where I’ll just probably put my back against the cage and just let them tee off on me, and we’ll just get down like that because I don’t really have it in me to go and have a war. Not right now.’”