Brian Ortega has cleared up exactly what happened behind the scenes that forced him out of his long-awaited lightweight debut against Renato Moicano, and it wasn’t a typical training injury.
“This is a freak accident that happened doing jiu-jitsu. I wasn’t sparring, I was doing jiu jitsu… Then this f*cking headbutt happened,” Ortega said.
The explanation adds important context to what had otherwise looked like a routine cut above the eye. Rather than coming from striking or sparring, the injury stemmed from a grappling exchange during jiu-jitsu training, where a headbutt opened the cut that ultimately required stitches.
Ortega had already gone public days earlier with the basics of the situation, writing on Instagram that “this one hurts” and detailing that he was on weight and coming off what he called one of the best training camps of his career.
Another Setback in a Rocky Stretch For Brian Ortega
This marks the second time the Brian Ortega- Renato Moicano rematch has fallen through, after an earlier attempt to book the fight at UFC 326 also collapsed due to Ortega injuries. It also continues a run of misfortune for ‘T-City,’ who has dealt with a string of withdrawals over the past several years, ranging from a torn ACL to a harrowing weight-cut ordeal that led to a hospitalization before a scheduled bout. Ortega now sits on a two-fight losing skid.
With the fight scrapped, Renato Moicano has already been rebooked to headline UFC Vegas 123 on October 31 against surging lightweight Tom Nolan. As for Ortega, no timetable has been given for his return, but the freak nature of this latest setback, a training room headbutt rather than a fight-related injury, adds an especially unlucky footnote to an already frustrating chapter of his career.
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