Diego Lopes vs. Brian Ortega Prediction: Can Brian Ortega Upset Diego Lopes at UFC 303?

Diego Lopes vs. Brian Ortega Prediction: Can Brian Ortega Upset Diego Lopes at UFC 303?

Brian Ortega and Diego Lopez Square off in a lightweight bout in the co-main event of UFC 303 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday night. This fight will now be taking place at lightweight in the 155-pound division after Brian Ortega struggled with making weight in his camp, now moving this fight from featherweight to lightweight with Diego Lopes obliging. With this fight now taking place at lightweight, there are many questions that will be answered between a fighter on the rise and a fighter who has already made his name in the promotion.

ORTEGA VS. LOPES DATE, TIME, AND WHERE TO WATCH

• Date: June 29th, 2024,
• Time: 10:00 p.m. ET
• Where to Watch: PPV

Click here for the latest Ortega vs. Lopes odds

Diego Lopes vs. Brian Ortega Prediction

Brian Ortega sports a 16-3 record and will be making his 13th UFC appearance tonight. Brian Ortega debuted in the UFC in 2014 and has fought some of the best names in the sport along the way. He has had two title fights on his résumé against Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway, and has also fought legends like the Korean Zombie, Frankie Edgar, and Cub Swanson. He also most recently fought twice against the rising prospect Yair Rodriguez. To put it shortly, Brian Ortega has been fighting the best of the best at featherweight for some years now.

On the other side, Diego Lopes is quite the opposite. Lopes made his debut in the UFC just last year against Movsar Evloev. Lopes has four UFC fights under his belt and is riding a three-fight win streak with a total record of 24–6 overall. Lopes has passed the test against his last three opponents, which gives way to his big test against a top fighter like Brian Ortega.

Lopes has a high finish rate for a featherweight with 22 finishes in his 24 professional wins, 10 by knockout and 12 by submission. While he is an exciting fighter who is on the rise, this stands to be easily the biggest test for him and the biggest stage in his career. While Lopes has won half of his fight by submission, Brian Ortega is a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu who has been in there with some of the best grapplers we’ve seen in the UFC. Brian Ortega is coming fresh off an arm triangle submission of Yair Rodriguez in the third round of their second fight, which was one of the biggest wins in his career. He has also submitted fighters like Cub Swanson and Renato Moicano in the UFC. He cannot be taken lightly on the ground. Many think Diego Lopes can knock Brian Ortega out in this fight, but I disagree. A quick look at Ortega’s résumé shows he got finished by Yair Rodriguez and Max Holloway, but a deeper look shows that he lost to Rodriguez the first time due to an injury, and his fight against Max Holloway was stopped by the doctor. Brian Ortega has never been cleanly knocked out in his professional MMA career, and his chin is rock solid. I highly doubt Diego Lopes will be the first one to knock Brian Ortega out cold. With this fight now being at 155, this gives a big advantage to Brian Ortega, who was already planning on making the jump to lightweight anyway before this fight. Ortega has a good frame for lightweight, and Lopes is technically taller and has a slightly longer reach, but he has never fought in lightweight and was also featherweight and was on track to make weight before moving up a division on late notice. Therefore, I think Ortega has all the tools and experience to upset Lopez in this fight and give a rude awakening to the rising prospect in the UFC. This line is way off by putting Ortega at plus money and he should take care of business on Saturday night.

Diego Lopes vs. Brian Ortega Pick

Pick: Brian Ortega ML +120 Click here to see which sportsbook has the best odds

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