To put it kindly, the month of June has been a bumpy ride for the UFC and many of its athletes. Yet despite all the last-minute matchup changes and cancelled fights, the organization has a chance to end the month and conclude this year’s International Fight Week on a high note with a successful and entertaining UFC 303 event.
Sticking with the theme of the month, there was some additional drama during Friday’s official weigh-ins as the co-main event between Brian Ortega and Diego Lopes was changed from a featherweight matchup to a lightweight contest.
Jon Anik made the announcement at the beginning of the weigh-ins, which took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, moments before Lopes weighed in at an even 155 pounds.
The Ortega vs. Lopes matchup was added to the UFC 303 lineup only two weeks ago after the original main event between Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler fell apart due to a McGregor injury and the organization revamped the card with the new championship main event plus a fan-friendly style clash between Ortega and Lopes.
Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting reported that Ortega’s team had reached out to Lopes’s team in the middle of the night explaining Ortega was 151 pounds and would not be able to cut down to 146 pounds, which is the featherweight limit for a non-title fight, and that if he did not begin to rehydrate at that time then the fight would be off altogether.
Lopes agreed to a 155-pound matchup instead of choosing not to compete at the event altogether and Helwani added that he was told Lopes would be “getting more money for his troubles.”
Ortega, who also stepped on the scale at an even 155 pounds had previously told the Spinnin’ Backfist podcast that he had been preparing for a move up to lightweight and even had a potential opponent lined up for later in the year.
Light-heavyweight champion Alex Pereira made weight with half a pound to spare ahead of his main event rematch with Jiri Prochazka, who was one of the final three athletes to weigh in on Friday along with fellow 205-pounder Anthony Smith and bantamweight Payton Talbott.
Prochazka came in at 204.5 pounds, identical to Pereira, with roughly 25 minutes to spare. Prochazka is looking to avenge his only UFC loss when he was stopped by Pereira in November at UFC 295.
Both Talbott and Smith eventually made weight with Smith the final fighter to weigh in. He needed to strip down to his birthday suit but did make weight ahead of his matchup with Roman Dolidze.
Brazil’s Jean Silva missed weight by 1.5 pounds on his first attempt. His opponent, Canada’s Charles Jourdain told Aaron Bronsteter and Aiemann Zahabi during Sportsnet’s live weigh-ins show he was annoyed with his “unprofessional” opponent and called him a “(expletive) idiot” for coming in heavy.
Silva will forfeit 20 per cent of his purse but his fight with Jourdain will still take place on the preliminary card.
Below are the official UFC 303 weigh-in results, plus the projected bout order for Saturday’s event:
MAIN CARD
— Alex Pereira (204.5) vs. Jiri Prochazka (204.5)
— Bran Ortega (155) vs. Diego Lopes (155)
— Anthony Smith (206) vs. Roman Dolidze (205)
— Mayra Bueno Silva (135) vs. Macy Chiasson (135.5)
— Ian Machado Garry (170) vs. Michael Page (171)
PRELIMINARY CARD
— Joe Pyfer (185.5) vs. Marc-Andre Barriault (185)
— Cub Swanson (146) vs. Andre Fili (145.5)
— Charles Jourdain (146) vs. Jean Silva (147.5*)
— Payton Talbott (135.5) vs. Yanis Ghemmouri (136)
— Michelle Waterson-Gomez (115) vs. Gillian Robertson (116)
— Andrei Arlovski (245) vs. Martin Buday (264.5)
— Rei Tsuruya (125.5) vs. Carlos Hernandez (125)
— Ricky Simon (136) vs. Vinicius Oliveira (136)
*Silva missed the non-title featherweight limit