UFC 306 would witness the highly anticipated clash between Brian Ortega and Diego Lopes. Their fight was supposed to happen at UFC 303 but ‘T-City’ had to pull out of the match due to serious health concerns and Dan Ige had to step in at the very last minute to fight against Lopes. The Brazilian ͏figh͏ter sec͏ured a victory against Ige after a hard-f͏ough͏t battle. However, there was a palpable ͏desire within͏ L͏opes͏ to face ‘T-City,’ and the promotion ensured that t͏h͏e͏ir fight was͏ rescheduled to͏ happen͏.

But what actually happened that forced Brian Ortega to pull out of his scheduled match at the last minute? Well, ‘T-City’ answered that question soon after the event. Ahead of his bout, let us have a look at what caused Ortega’s pullout.

What happened to Brian Ortega at UFC 303?

After the UFC 303 fallout, the MMA community wanted nothing but answers. Ortega was silent for quite some time but he had to give in to the demands of the fans. The fighter took to his Instagram handle to ascertain that his body was not working well ahead of the bout. ‘T-City’ emphasized that he accepted to fight Deigo Lopes with just 15 days in hand and it was pretty difficult for him to cut that weight. However, he did try his best but a high fever amid the weight cut forced him to withdraw from the fight.

“I was 178 lb when I accepted this fight on 15 days notice. Thursday night after 7 straight hours, I could not break 151 lb. Later, I would find out that I was battling a fever and I could not break into the final 5 lbs as my body started to shut down,” said Ortega. He further added, “Thankfully we were able to move the weight to 155,” Ortega continued. “At weigh ins, I still felt off but I was sure it would go away after I rehydrated and ate. Later on that night I still felt off and was suffering from cold sweats and no sleep.”

Ortega explained that he did try to cut down the weight but it was a bit too much for him considering the fact that he was suffering from a high fever. He thanked the promotion that they moved to 155 weight limit but still, it was not enough for him. Regardless, what were Dana White’s thoughts on the fallout? Let’s find out.

What did Dana White say about Brian Ortega?

UFC 303 was a challenging event for the UFC CEO, as he had to not only reschedule the main event but also the co-main event. What was supposed to be an action-packed card with multiple high-profile fights suddenly turned into a disaster but the UFC head honcho saved it in the very last moment. Regardless, so was he angry at Brian Ortega? Well, the reality is a bit different as White sympathized with the fighter.

At the post-fight press conference, Dana White was asked about his opinion on Ortega’s sudden pullout to which he said, “It’s one of the worst things that happens. When you have two guys and one guy makes weight and the other guy doesn’t, it just sucks. But, it’s also something that you’re going to run into when you’re asking people to come in on short notice fights. It’s a tough part of the business.” 

When the reporters asked about the bland character of Ortega from the weigh-ins, White asserted, “I told the matchmakers yesterday that he was acting very strange during the weigh-in. Yeah, it was definitely off. I don’t know what’s wrong; I don’t know if he has personal problems or if he started cutting weight early and probably didn’t feel great. Whatever the thing was, there was definitely something off with him.” Well, White might be happy that the featherweight star is finally making an appearance at the star-studded UFC 306 event but it must be noted that the fight might be happening in the featherweight division but Brian Ortega has some other plans for his career.

Is ‘T-City’ moving to lightweight now?

Brian Ortega has achieved everything in the featherweight division except getting the undisputed 145 lbs gold. It must be noted that ‘T-city’ was away from the Octagon for a good two years due to the back-to-back injuries that he sustained during his fight against Yair Rodriguez. however, he came back with a bang and defeated Rodriguez this February. After the victory, Ortega made sure that he wanted to fight at the lightweight now. Interestingly, ahead of his scheduled fight against Diego Lopes at UFC 303, Ortega ascertained that he wanted to fight in the 155 lbs division.

“That’s the only conversation I legitimately had with them that made sense. I said yes to it, they said yes to it, we all got excited, and that was kind of the works. They told that my weight class had no one really that they wanted me to fight. They didn’t want me to fight contenders and stuff, so I decided to move to 155,” said Ortega in a conversation with MMA Junkie. He further added, “There’s no title fight for me anytime soon.”

It would be interesting to witness another BJJ-heavy fighter in the 155 lbs division. Regardless, what’s your take on Brian Ortega’s decision? State your thoughts in the comments below.