Diego Lopes believes that despite all the drama that unfolded hours before the scheduled fight in June, Brian Ortega will enter the Octagon on September 14 at UFC 306 without any problems.

Lopes and Ortega agreed on short notice to face each other in a featherweight showdown at UFC 303 after the calendar suffered major setbacks, most notably the cancellation of Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler. However, the fight was moved to 155 pounds a few hours before the official weigh-in after Ortega struggled to lose weight.

In an unprecedented move, Dan Ige eventually replaced Ortega just hours before the fight and faced Lopes in a catchweight bout after Ortega fell ill. Lopes defeated Ige by decision to earn his fourth consecutive UFC victory and asked the organization to retry the fight against Ortega.

Both fighters have now agreed to meet for a featherweight bout at the Sphere next month and the Brazilian is confident that Ortega will make the weight and stay healthy.

“I’m not afraid,” Lopes told MMA Fighting. “He’s always struggled to make 145 pounds, but he always makes the weight. Unfortunately, last time it didn’t work out, but I understand that. We had two weeks (provision), he weighed over 176 pounds. We knew something like that could happen, so we even offered to fight at 155, but the UFC said no. But I’m not afraid (that Ortega won’t make the weight now). I’m cool, I’m focused on my work and on evolving every day, going out there and doing a good job.”

Lopes said he was “surprised” when he was offered a fight against Ige within hours, saying it felt like “going to the gym on sparring day and training with someone random.”

It was an experience that taught him important lessons.

“I proved to myself that I am ready for any fight situation,” Lopes said. “They changed the weight, changed the opponent on short notice and that showed that I am mentally strong and prepared for any adversity.”

Lopes and Ortega will complete full training camps this time to prepare for each other, and the Mexico-based athlete sees similarities between the two in boxing and grappling.

“The idea is always the same – go forward and finish as fast as possible,” Lopes said. “I know that if I do a good job in the fight against Ortega and beat him by a wide margin, I can move up the rankings and my name will be strong in the fight for the belt in the future.”

“I don’t know if I’ll go straight for the belt (with a win at UFC 306), but my name will definitely be in the conversation if something happens. If there are any last-minute changes in the UFC, my name will be in the conversation, just like when they had to replace the co-main event at UFC 303. We can say that a shot (at the belt) won’t be that far away.”