Brian Ortega recalls hectic 48 hours that led to UFC 303 withdrawal: “I didn’t come back to life”

Brian Ortega has opened up on the 48 hours leading to his withdrawal from his UFC 303 fight against Diego Lopes.

Ortega was booked on short notice to face Lopes at featherweight to help save the UFC 303 card following Conor McGregor’s withdrawal. However, before weigh-ins, the fight was moved to lightweight as ‘T-City’ was having a hard time making the weight.

Then, on fight day, Ortega had to pull out of the fight entirely as he revealed he didn’t feel like he could compete. ‘T-City’ went as far as to tell the UFC that had he fought, he would have just put his back against the cage and let Lopes tee off on him.

"I didn't come back to life."@BrianTcity explains what went wrong during #UFC303 fight week 😳

He is live on MK: https://t.co/WF75tDgks7@bcampbell @lthomasnews pic.twitter.com/WHNwwSXtJQ

— Morning Kombat (@morningkombat) July 29, 2024

“That is what I was trying to figure out. 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. 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. My body gave out at 151. It was just hard,” Ortega said to Morning Kombat.

Brian Ortega says usually after making weight once you start eating and rehydrating you normally feel better. However, Ortega says that didn’t happen, as he says he was in cold sweats and couldn’t stop sweating.

After talking to his manager and coaches, Ortega knew he couldn’t fight Diego Lopes at UFC 303 and decided to withdraw from the bout

“I told my manager, then I called him. 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.’ Surprising enough they agreed with me.”

Ortega has been rebooked to fight Lopes at Noche UFC on September 14.