Brian Ortega Reveals Alarming Details About His Weight Cut
UFC featherweight fighter Brian Ortega has confirmed that he fainted and woke up in the emergency room during his weight cut at the recent UFC Fight Night in Shanghai. Ortega, with a record of 16-5, was originally scheduled to face Aljamain Sterling (24-5) in a featherweight bout as the co-main event. However, the matchup was modified to a catchweight of 153 pounds after Ortega missed the weight. The former title contender looked emaciated and unstable during the weigh-in, and lost all five rounds to Sterling according to the judges’ scorecards. In a video posted on social media on Monday, Ortega revealed the severity of the problems he faced when trying to make weight, including a prolonged fainting spell on Friday morning.Ortega, 34, has considered a possible permanent weight class change for over a year, but has yet to schedule a lightweight fight in the UFC. He was forced to withdraw from a last-minute fight against Diego Lopes in 2024 due to medical issues related to his weight cut. According to Ortega, the UFC had a replacement opponent prepared for him in Shanghai, but he remained firm in taking the fight despite the complications with the weight cut.“I was on the bike for 20 minutes and once I got off, I lost consciousness,” Ortega said. “I was unconscious for about 30 minutes. During that time, they put ice on me, took all my clothes off, left me in my underwear. I woke up in the emergency room, took everything off, I really couldn’t speak, translate to them. I was like, if you don’t take it all off, I’m going to take it off myself. We knew we had a time limit to get to the weigh-in, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to fight. If you saw the weigh-in, you obviously know that I looked delirious and fresh out of 30 minutes of being unconscious in the tunnel. After that, I weighed in. We thought that if I didn’t feel good or if something was wrong, we would cancel the fight.”
Brian Ortega
“[Sterling told me], ‘they have a replacement fighter, don’t worry,’ but I told him, ‘no, I don’t want to waste your time,’” Ortega said. “We ate. We rehydrated all day. I didn’t feel good; I wanted to cancel it. Just leaving, I almost fainted and fell. Everything in my body tells me not to fight. First of all, I decided to fight for my family. That’s my job, to show up and do what I do for them. Secondly, I fought for you [the fans].”
Brian Ortega
