Issue 209

September 2024

Dan Ige steps in on just four hours' notice for one of the most unforgettable, last-minute showdowns in UFC history

Every good heist movie has that one scene where the crew all comes together. Everyone turns up, exchanges hugs, and chops it up a little as they plan the next big play. That’s kind of how things went down on June 29 when Dan Ige rounded up a small posse and turned in one of the most gangster performances in MMA history.

THE SETUP

A featherweight matchup between Diego Lopes and Brian Ortega was added to the bill for UFC 303 when it was confirmed Conor McGregor was injured. Ige was scheduled to fight three weeks later, landing Chepe Mariscal as an opponent after his original dance partner, Joanderson Brito, was forced to withdraw, and another option or two fell by the wayside. For whatever reason, the 33-year-old had a strange intuition.

“I don’t know what you want to call it — your faith or a higher power — I just had a feeling that something (was gonna happen),” explained Ige. “I couldn’t explain what it would be, what kind of opportunity, but things were going wrong — fights falling out, things weren’t happening. I was coming off a big win over Fili, and I was like, ‘Something’s gotta happen. Something’s gonna click here.' I was scheduled to fight July 20th. I fell through a bunch of opponents. Eventually, we had one booked up with Chepe Mariscal, and I was three weeks out and then they called me that Saturday. I was recovering. I was getting ready for Monday, getting ready for another hard week because right around three weeks, you’re pushing it. They called me, and we showed up and did some gangster s***.”

Ige was on the massage table when his manager, Ali Abdelaziz, called to let him know what was happening. After feeling ill following weigh-ins, Ortega was too sick to compete and was being pulled from the fight with Lopes, who wanted to fight and needed an opponent, and Abdelaziz was calling to see if his client was game. Ige immediately said yes and then started rounding up a crew. Xtreme Couture head coach Eric Nicksick was his first call.

“I didn’t even ask his opinion really, I just said, ‘We’re fighting Lopes,’ and he said, ‘Cool; when?’” said Ige, a smile materializing on his face as he ran down the details of how he quickly assembled his corner team. “I was like, ‘Tonight,’ and he was like, ‘Alright, cool. Whattaya need?’ I was like, ‘Are you by the gym? I need my cup.’ He went to the gym, got my cup, and showed up at my house about an hour later. I called Giff (striking coach Jimmy Gifford), and he was taking a nap. Dude never naps. I called him seven times, and I was like, ‘The boat has sailed; onto the next.’

“I called Kai (Kamaka) — he had fought, had just got off the plane and was with his kids, and Eric was like, ‘Be at Las Vegas Boulevard and Silverado Ranch in 30 minutes,’ and he said, ‘Okay.’ He didn’t even ask, ‘For what?’ He just said, ‘Okay.’ And then we need a wild card because we get three cornermen, so we called Sean Strickland, and Strickland shows up on his motorcycle. It was like a movie, dude. We showed up, weighed in, it was official, and we fought.”

“WHAT THE F*** DID WE JUST DO?"

Kai Kamaka’s day began in Sioux Falls. The night before, he’d beaten Pedro Carvalho to advance to the semifinals in the PFL’s 2024 featherweight tournament. Bruised, sore, and eager to get home, he jumped on a 7 am plane to Vegas. He picked up some eats, stocking up before folks came through to chill, and then his phone buzzed. Two missed calls from Nicksick and a text that said, “Yo, call me right away.” 

“I called Eric, and he was like, ‘Dan might be fighting Diego Lopes tonight; we might have to go,’” he recalled. “He didn’t say ‘corner,’ but I just assumed that was the role I was having, so I was like, ‘Just let me know.’”

Nicksick gave Kamaka coordinates rather than a specific place, adding to the ‘rounding up the crew for a caper’ feel. A shirtless Kamaka stood in the parking lot of a Shell gas station as Ige rolled in with Nicksick and Abdelaziz in tow. From there, Kamaka recounts moments like scenes from a movie. Blowing through security at T-Mobile Arena. Being hustled into a random room featuring Jelly Roll, one of the Trump kids, and UFC CEO Dana White. Walking into the locker room, Ortega’s stall was still set up. Feeling sore while helping Ige get loose. Hustling to the far side of the venue because Ige and Lopes were getting a main event walk. The fight was competitive and entertaining, with Lopes earning a unanimous decision win, claiming the first two rounds on all three cards before Ige won the final frame.

Kamaka, Ige, and Nicksick were stuck at the venue later than usual, lounging in the locker room, each sprawled out on the floor, waiting to figure out how they would get home since Abdelaziz had left, stranding them there.

“We’re all laying down in the locker room, and we were all kind of like, ‘What the f*** did we just do?’” recalled Kamaka with a laugh. “Eric made a joke. We’re walking out and he tells the driver, ‘Take us to Crazy Horse!’ one of the strip clubs. Me and Dan look at each other, and we’re like, ‘We’re not going to Crazy Horse!’ and Eric was like, ‘We’re going to Crazy Horse!’ He was joking about closing out the crazy night in style, but he ended up taking us home. It was a crazy experience. It’s hard to put into words.”

Despite fighting the night before, leaving Sioux Falls early, and having a house full of people, when the call came, Kamaka didn’t think once about begging out of the adventure.

“Not at all, no,” he said when asked if he considered opting out. “One of my main training partners, one of my best friends in Vegas, if they need me on a dime like that — I’m lucky to be on that call. I’m lucky to be one of those guys he knows he can call. As much as I had a decision to make, it’s even cooler to be in that position.”

For Ige, having people like Nicksick, Kamaka, and Strickland in his corner means the world to him.

“It’s so important to have those people in your life,” he said when asked about the crew. “There’s a lot of other people I wish could have been there at the time. I always bring my brother Skyler to the fights, and he was supposed to fly in that week to be there for the rest of the fight camp for my fight on the 20th. I called him, and he was stoked but also bummed because he couldn’t be there. I called my dad. He was super-stoked. But having those people that don’t even question it — they all have full trust in my ability, full confidence in my ability just as I do because they see the work every single day. We’re all putting in the work together. Kai’s putting in the work. Eric is putting in the work — he’s in the trenches with the fighters — and then Strickland, he’s actually a good teammate; he’s in the gym every day. It was cool, man. It was a special night, and it was cool to share it with those guys.”

LONG OVERDUE FLOWERS

In today’s Ricky Bobby world where “if you ain’t first, you’re last,” many fans and critics quickly dismiss the accomplishments of someone like Ige. The veteran featherweight is the type of competitor that every division needs. He’s a consummate professional who will show up on weight to fight as long and hard as required on four-hour notice. Fighters like him deserve attention, so seeing Ige getting his flowers that night is excellent.

“(Having the respect of my peers) means a lot,” Ige said somewhat sheepishly, clearly a little uncomfortable with the praise. “I think it’s just kind of a standard I’ve set for myself: win, lose, or draw. I feel like if you never quit, you don’t lose, so if you don’t give up, you don’t lose. Along the way, I’ve lost a lot in my fighting career, on my actual record, but I’ve never let that define me. Even a win — I don’t let that define me; I take it for what it is. There are so many variables you can’t control, so I’ve always focused on what I can control, giving my best effort in the gym, show up fight night, and whatever happens, happens. Going back to that fight at 303, that was a lot of hard work that paid off in that moment. It wasn’t in the form of a “W,” but it was a different kind of win. It was a win in life. It was a win in terms of my career trajectory. It was a win financially. It was a win in a lot of ways that helped me and my family. I feel like I’m in the meat of my career, and I’m just gonna feed off that and keep stacking.”

While Nicksick is always quick with a joke, the Xtreme Couture leader is quick to sing the praises of his athletes 

“Dan’s a natural leader because he embodies everything you want in a captain—dedication, toughness, and selflessness,” begins Nicksick. “He’s someone people look up to, not just because of his skill, but because of his character. He’s always willing to help out teammates and share his knowledge, and that kind of leadership is what earns respect from everyone in the room. But he’s also a different style of leader than most. Although he’s quiet at times, when he does speak, people listen. Most of the time, though, he sets the tone by leading by example. He’s always the hardest worker, the first one in and the last one out. Beyond that, he brings a positive and motivating attitude to every session and makes himself available to everyone. He’s constantly lifting people up and pushing them to be their best, and that’s infectious in a gym environment. I’d say that’s been the coolest thing I’ve seen as his coach: his transformation into this leader on the mats.”

AFTER THAT, WHAT DO YOU DO FOR AN ENCORE?

How things played out at UFC 303 understandably left Ige feeling slightly different than in previous instances.

“Normally, after a loss, it will settle in much quicker,” he admitted. “I rode the wave, rode the high a little longer because it did feel like a win. Financially, I made my show and my win money. I got interviewed after — they don’t interview the losers, but I got interviewed. I had a standing ovation in the T-Mobile Arena. I had a whole week, two weeks full of media requests, so it felt like a win in that instance. But then two, three weeks go by, and you start thinking as a fighter, ‘Man, what if I would have stood up in the third round? What if I didn’t throw that head kick? What if I could have…’ all that stuff.

“It is what it is — it’s all in the past, it can’t be changed; they’re just thoughts that I have, but where I stand right now, there is nothing I can do about that. It is an “L” on my record, and I’ve got to make it up.”

He gets that opportunity on October 26th at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, when he squares off with Lerone Murphy at UFC 308.

“It’s a fight for me to climb the ladder again because somehow he’s ranked above me,” Ige said with a shake of his head. “He went from being unranked to beating Barboza, and now he’s ranked above me, but whatever; the rankings are what they are. It’s a good test, man. I definitely have a lot of competitive experience advantage. He’s well-rounded, good everywhere, but I think this is a test in a way for me to propel myself to the next level. Prove I am Top 10, Top 5 worthy. I always kind of reach (this same position), and I’ll fight No. 7, like a (Josh) Emmett or a (Korean) Zombie, and just fall short. I think this is the fight that will propel me to the Top 10 so I can start making that climb again.”

UNDEFEATED OR NOT

It’s a fight in which he can beat someone ahead of him in the rankings and an opportunity to knock Murphy from the ranks of the unbeaten. After touching down in the UFC with a perfect 8-0, Murphy has followed up his debut draw at UFC 242 with six straight victories, including three wins in Abu Dhabi.

“A little bit, but I don’t try to put too much emphasis into it,” Ige answered when asked about facing an undefeated opponent. “You always want to be the guy to take a guy’s ‘0’ or finish a guy that’s never been finished, so he has the same thing because he has an opportunity to finish me, who has never been finished. But I don’t really care about the record thing. Every fight is an opportunity to establish who I am and make that climb again. He’s tough, but so is everyone; so is everyone that I’ve fought. I don’t think he brings anything more creative or dynamic than anyone I’ve fought. He has his own style that I’ll have to deal with, but I’ll be prepared. I feel good. I’m just excited. I fought in Abu Dhabi before and have flown home a loser, and I don’t want to do that again.”

Ige laughed, continuing to joke about how the already long flight sucks even more when you’re coming back defeated. Coming off a career-defining moment in June and a night where he finally got his flowers, it’d be easy for Ige to take his foot off the gas, basking in the continuing glow of the night he pulled some gangster s*** in Las Vegas. Then again, guys that pull that kind of move generally don’t rest on their laurels and trade on their previous exploits. They look for the next score, and that’s precisely what Ige is doing.

“I feel I’m in a great place mentally and physically. I’m still young enough to do great things, and I feel like there is a lot more. I don’t know how I top (UFC 303), but I think there is a way to top it. There is still work to be done.”