Dan Ige hopes for UFC 306 fight after saving the day against Diego Lopes: “I just think it makes sense”

Dan Ige is throwing his name in the hat for UFC 306, but he’s prepared to trust the process.

Ige became a big crowd favorite when he agreed to replace Brian Ortega for a fight with Diego Lopes to save the UFC 303 co-main event. He ended up going the distance with Lopes in a competitive fight, and the fans showed their appreciation.

While Ige saved the day at UFC 303, he’d like to get some rest before his next outing after going the distance with one of the featherweight division’s rising stars.

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Dan Ige Wants Spot at UFC 306, Trusts Whatever Matchmakers Have in Mind

Speaking to Damon Martin of MMAFighting.com, Dan Ige said that he feels a fight during UFC’s debut at the Sphere in Las Vegas makes a lot of sense.

“I want to fight at the Sphere. I think my plan was to fight July 20 and call out an opponent for the Sphere. I just think it makes sense. What we did and getting Dana’s reassurance that we can have that, I’m going all-in on that. We’ll see what happens. Is it Diego? Is it Yair [Rodriguez]? Is it Chepe? I don’t know. I think we’ll get a big fight. Whoever it is, is going to be a big fight at the Sphere.”

Ige is unsure if he’ll ever share the Octagon with Diego Lopes again, but he believes they both have etched their names in the MMA history books with their UFC 303 fight at the absolute 11th hour.

“You never know what’s going to happen from here on out, but we cemented our legacy right there,” Ige said of Lopes. “Do we fight again? I don’t know. He has a tremendous amount of respect for me, as I do for him. That being said, it could be fun. You give us both time and opportunity to game plan, to study each other, to both weigh in at 145 so there’s no weird variables. I’m not going to sit here and call him out like, ‘I would have had you if I had two more minutes!’ Because it doesn’t matter.

“I guess we’ve just got to sit and wait and see what happens. The UFC is clever and obviously they do their job very well and can get shit done in four hours, so they can make something happen, and I’m just going to trust whatever they’re doing. We’ll see what happens from here on out.”

It’ll be interesting to see what is next for Dan Ige, but it’s safe to say that MMA fans have newfound respect for the 26-fight veteran.