A featherweight bout between third-ranked Brian Ortega and 14th-ranked Diego Lopes serves as Saturday’s UFC 303 co-main event. Ortega (16-3, 1 NC) will enter the fight coming off a win over Yair Rodriguez in February. Lopes (24-6) is riding a three-fight winning streak.
For Ortega, a win would keep him in contender status and within title shot reach. Lopes has the opportunity to leap several fighters in the rankings is he’s able to upset Ortega.
The UFC 303 main card will be kicked off with a welterweight bout between seventh-ranked Ian Machado Garry and 14th-ranked Michael “Venom” Page.
The undefeated Garry (14-0) looks to remain unbeaten and solidify his place inside the Top 10 rankings. Page (22-2) had a successful UFC debut in his last fight, defeating Kevin Holland. The former Bellator standout looks to continue to make his mark in the new promotion.
UFC 303 Weigh-in Video: Ian Machado Garry vs. Michael Page
UFC 303 main event fighters, middleweight champion Alex Pereira and former titleholder Jiri Prochazka, officially weighed in on Friday ahead of the championship rematch. The two first fought at UFC 295 last November with Pereira finishing Prochazka in the second round via technical knockout.
Pereira tipped the scales at 204.5 pounds. Prochazka was one of the final fights to weigh-in. He officially came in at the same weight, 204.5 pounds.
The UFC 303 Pre-Fight Press Conference took place on Thursday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The entire main card participated in the promotional event and faced off with their opponents ahead of Saturday’s fights.
UFC 303 is headlined by a middleweight championship rematch between champion Alex Pereira and former titleholder Jiri Prochazka. The two first fought at UFC 295 last November with Pereira finishing Prochazka in the second round via technical knockout.
Rising welterweight star Ian Machado Garry grew up a short drive from Dublin, Ireland when Conor McGregor rose from a local promotion champion to superstardom in the UFC. Predictably, Garry was influenced by McGregor’s success and wanted to emulate McGregor’s achievements.
On Saturday, the undefeated Garry (14-0) takes on former Bellator standout Michael “Venom” Page (22-2) on the UFC 303 main card. Leading up to the fight, Page has seized in on Garry’s admiration of McGregor saying he considers “The Future” simply a ‘fake Conor McGregor.’
“Obviously, you can see how much he’s been inspired by Conor McGregor. And I get it. Many fighters away from Ireland have been massively inspired by Conor McGregor. He was there, when he first started to see someone like Conor McGregor blow up and seeing him be the giant figure that he is in MMA now. I understand the inspiration,” Page said during the UFC 303 Media Day.
“Trying to do exactly what he does is what I call fake because your personality may not actually be like that which is why people are not necessarily resonating with you,” Page continued. “Whereas with Conor, you’re trying to play the exact same role. With Conor, people love Conor. He has this massive fanbase. With you, people hate you, and I think it’s because we can all feel when something is not real, when it’s not authentic. I feel it’s not authentic with Garry therefore he’s fake Conor McGregor.”
Related: Paige VanZant tells why she signed with Power Slap
Page may not like Garry’s persona, but he doesn’t take emotion with him inside the octagon. He believes Garry has done ‘really well’ thus far in his career, but made a big mistake accepting the fight with him.
“He’s new and he’s done really, really well. You’ve seen it with so many people, quick rises. I think a lot of the time with quick risers you get quick falls as well,” Page said. “Very confident young man who’s doing really well. Has massive belief in himself and just made one bad decision in accepting the fight with me.”
“I take him seriously. I like to play around and have jokes, but I do take him seriously,” Page continued. “I do respect this talents. I just think I’m better than him.”
Garry will enter the octagon at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday ranked seventh in the welterweight division. Page is ranked just inside the Top 15 but has the opportunity to leap ahead of several fights with a win.
T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas hosts Thursday’s UFC 303 Pre-Fight Press Conference featuring all 10 main card fighters. The press conference is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT.
The event is headlined by a middleweight championship rematch between champion Alex Pereira and former titleholder Jiri Prochazka. The two first fought at UFC 295 last November with Pereira finishing Prochazka in the second round via technical knockout.
The event was expected to be headlined by Conor McGregor’s octagon return against Michael Chandler but McGregor was forced out due to a toe injury. Once McGregor fell out of the event, the fight card went through a major transformation.
Former UFC women’s flyweight Paige VanZant will make her Power Slap debut against Christine Wolmarans on Friday at the Colbalt Ballroom inside Fontainebleau Las Vegas.
Since leaving the UFC in 2020, VanZant has fought in bare-knuckle boxing, was briefly a professional wrestler, and made her boxing debut earlier this year. Now she can add Power Slap to her resume and she considers herself ‘a gangster’ for doing it.
“I got a call if I’d do Power Slap. I said, ‘absolutely,’ and that was it. Signed the contract and here I am here to do Power Slap,” VanZant told the media on Wednesday. “I think it’s exciting for me because, like, listen, I am a gangster. Whether people want to admit it or not. I am here to slap somebody. It doesn’t matter what organization, what combat sport. I’m here to take over and have some fun.”
Before getting the phone call with an offer, VanZant had considered doing Power Slap. On Friday, she’ll get the opportunity.
“It was a conversation that we had in the gym. Everybody watches Power Slap. They’ve taken over. Everybody knows what it is. Everybody’s seen the highlight videos and a lot of people are like, ‘No. I would never do that,’ or they have mixed emotions about it all,” VanZant said. “For me, I was like, ‘Yeah, I’d do that.’ Of course. I look back at my UFC career, my bare-knuckle boxing career, everything that I’ve done. You can’t take away how tough I am. This is like the ultimate test of toughness. You stand there and you’ve got to have the balls to get hit.”
VanZant made her professional boxing debut in Misfits Boxing in May against English Onlyfans model Elle Brooke. The bout ended in a split draw and VanZant expects to rematch Booke later this year. She also left the door open to return to Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, but right now she wants to be in Power Slap.
“I am a woman who does whatever the f**k I want and right now I want to do Power Slap,” she said.
UFC 303 takes place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday and is headlined by a middleweight championship rematch between champion Alex Pereira and former titleholder Jiri Prochazka. The two first fought at UFC 295 last November with Pereira finishing Prochazka in the second round via technical knockout.
Every fight is different. Former middleweight champion Michael Bisping doesn’t think the rematch will look anything like their first fight. He also expects a different outcome.
“Alex Pereira, once again defending the strap against the Czech Republic’s Jiri Prochazka. This is a phenomenal fight and I’m telling you right now, I believe this fight will look very, very different from the first fight,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel.
“Alex Pereira’s incredible. What he’s achieved in the sport in such a short amount of time, beating all these champions, becoming a two weight division champion, and doing it with one skillset,” Bisping continued. “Kickboxing, devastating punching power, knocking people out. The way he knocked out Jamahal Hill, not to mention countless others. The man’s unbelievable. He’s phenomenal. He stopped Israel Adesanya.”
“I can not wait for this fight. I am very, very excited because, I’m telling you right now, we are going to get a different result. We are going to get a different fight. It will not be the same,” Bisping added.
In their first bout, Prochazka’s undoing came when he attempted to take Pereira down along the cage. Pereira unloaded a series of elbows and badly hurt Prochazka. Bisping doesn’t see that happening again. He expects Prochazka to reclaim the 205-pound championship.
“I think the first round is going to be a feeling out process. Alex isn’t a crazy, overly aggressive madman. He’s calculated. He takes his time. He picks his shots, chips away at the calves and the rest of it. Jiri’s the flip side. He’s a madman,” Bisping said.
“He’s going to go right at Alex Pereira and turn it into a barnburner straight away because that’s the only way the man fights. He only knows one speed,” Bisping continued. “Saturday night, when the dust settles, when it is all over, Jiri Prochazka will be the light heavyweight champion of the world. Bet your bottom dollar. I’m willing to put money on that, not because I underestimate Alex Pereira. It’s because I have a lot of faith in Jiri Prochazka.”
Former middleweight champion and third-ranked 185-pound contender Robert Whittaker has put together back-to-back wins this year rebounding from a loss to Dricus Du Plessis in July 2023.
Fresh off of his UFC Saudi Arabia first-round knockout win over Ikram Aliskerov, Whittaker would like some time off before returning to the octagon.
“I do know that the hard truth in the UFC is that winning opens doors, so win fights,” Whittaker said during an appearance on From The Stands. “That’s also, fortunately enough, how I make a living. That’s how I earn the bread for my family.
“Honestly, I’m just going to take some time to chill. I took the last fight pretty quickly after [Paulo] Costa. It’s honestly felt like one really long camp,” Whittaker continued. “I’m going to take the family away a little bit and just cruise, but I look to smash whoever they put in front of me afterwards.”
Whittaker was scheduled to face Khamzat Chimaev in the UFC Saudi Arabia main event but illness forced Chimaev out of the fight. After Whittaker’s win, Chimaev tweeted ‘We are not done.” Whittaker isn’t opposed to rebooking a fight with Chimaev but says it’s really up to the fight promotion.
“I’m a middleweight and I don’t pick my fights. If that’s a fight the UFC wants and is still interested in making – They want me to headline another card out that way, it’s what I do,” Whittaker said. “Our paths are sure to cross. We’re both Top 10 middleweights. It’s kind of the game.”
When the UFC 303 Dublin Press Conference was abruptly canceled earlier this month, it was apparent that Conor McGregor’s return fight against Michael Chandler was in jeopardy. A toe injury forced the former two-division UFC champion out of the UFC 303 main event.
The fight card took on a swift transformation after McGregor’s exit and the Irish superstar received criticism from fighters, commentators and fans. In an unforeseen twist to the story, a former rival came to McGregor’s defense about not fighting at UFC 303.
“I think it’s a minor thing,” Nate Diaz told MMAJunkie. “I think they’re making a bigger deal out of it than it is.”
Diaz famously handed McGregor his first UFC loss at UFC 196 back in March 2016 after stepping in on days notice after McGregor’s original opponent, Rafael dos Anjos, was forced out due to a broken foot. McGregor avenged the loss in the rematch five months later at UFC 202, defeating Diaz via majority decision.
“It’s a good idea,” Diaz said about McGregor backing out due to injury. “If I was f***ed up I’d like to move the fight back too. But people f***ing freak out. I think I wouldn’t want to fight until I’m 100-percent ready to rock too because in the past I’ve done all kinds of sh*t I shouldn’t have done. I think he learned from experience, and obviously the inexperienced people are out there talking sh*t.
“That’s just speaking from their inexperience. They’re going to have to deal with the criticism until the fight gets done,” Diaz continued. “I think it will happen and it will all be good.”
Diaz will enter the boxing ring for the second time as a professional on July 6 against a familiar UFC foe, Jorge Masvidal. The fight takes place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The two first fought for the inaugural, symbolic “Baddest Motherf***er” (BMF) belt at UFC 244 in November 2019. Masvidal won via doctor stoppage due to a cut. On July 6, they’ll run it back inside the boxing ring.
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