Brian Ortega broke his silence on Wednesday after enduring a disastrous UFC 303 fight week that ended with him dropping out of his fight against Diego Lopes just hours before he was scheduled to compete.

The two-time featherweight title challenger released a statement addressing the ordeal that began after he accepted the fight against Lopes just two weeks prior to UFC 303 following the withdrawal of original headliner Conor McGregor. Ortega knew he had to drop quite a bit of weight to get down to the 146-pound limit for a non-title fight, but he seemed confident in getting the job done.

That all changed after he arrived in Las Vegas for fight week activities.

“Come fight week, I felt off and I didn’t feel right,” Ortega said on Instagram. “I thought it was just the residual effects from the [weight] cut. I was 178 pounds when I accepted this fight on 15 days’ notice. Thursday night after seven straight hours, I could not break 151 pounds. Later, I would find out that I was battling a fever and I could not break into the final five pounds as my body started to shut down.

“Rather than risking huge health consequences, and possibly calling the fight off, thankfully we were able to move the weight to 155. At weigh-ins, I still felt off but I was sure it would go away after I rehydrated and ate.”