See the gruesome cut Brian Ortega suffered 3 weeks before UFC Mexico City

Brian Ortega handled a couple of injuries ahead of UFC Mexico City

Brian Ortega needed to take care of disaster after disaster ahead of UFC Mexico City this past Saturday. For his first fight in nearly two years, Ortega finally stepped into the Octagon, where he awaited his rematch with Yair Rodriguez. As he was introduced by Octagon announcer Bruce Buffer, ’T-City’ injured himself after rolling his ankle during a jump. 

The injury couldn’t have come at a worse time, but that was not the just one Ortega handled ahead of his fight. 

Ortega got cut during training

In a recent Instagram post, Rener Gracie revealed Brian Ortega suffered a cut during one in every of his final training sessions for UFC Mexico City. It happened lower than a month away from the event, and there was some concern that the Rener Gracie representative wouldn’t get to fight, especially after receiving 14 (!) stitches. 

Warning: A number of the photos are graphic. Please proceed with caution.

“Three weeks before the fight, Brian caught a nasty head butt while training [at Gracie University HQ]. Slide two,” posted Gracie. “It was so deep that he needed to get 4 stitches on the within and ten on the surface. Slide three. 

“Being so near the fight we knew that one light punch in that region would have busted it right open,” continued Gracie. “It was our biggest concern (until he rolled his ankle during Round 0). The day after the stitches went in, once I texted him asking if he still desired to fight, he and [Mike Saffaie] sent me a video response. Slide 4.” 

Here is one other picture of the cut:

A newly stitched Ortega responded to Gracie with a transparent answer. 

“The show continues, homie! We don’t even care,” said Ortega. “We sweatin’. The show continues. Come on, Rener. Come on, man! We don’t stop!”

As expected, Ortega went on to fight Rodriguez, who he ultimately finished via third-round arm-triangle choke. After avenging a loss to ‘El Pantera,’ Ortega hinted at potentially fighting newly crowned UFC champion Ilia Topuria. 

Jon Anik wants Ortega in a No. 1 contender fight next

That said, UFC commentator Jon Anik has one other idea for Brian Ortega. During a recent edition of The Anik & Florian podcast, Anik gave his thoughts on what could occur next for the 33-year-old. 

“Perhaps Brian Ortega shall be next, I would really like to see Brian Ortega fight Movsar Evloev,” said Anik. “I believe that’s the fight to make as a five round most important event, as a championship title eliminator. I believe plenty of the questions need to do with the calendar and getting a venue in Spain and Alexander Volkanovski’s desire to take some day off or turn around quickly, but Kenny [Florian], correct me if I’m fallacious, not out of the realm of possibility that on the strength of this win this weekend, that Brian Ortega has arrange a date with Ilia Topuria for the undisputed UFC featherweight title.”

There’s definitely a case for Topuria vs. Ortega, but Anik has a terrific idea with this potential No. 1 contender fight in Ortega vs. Evloev. If the UFC goes with a right away rematch for Topuria and Volkanovski, then these two should fight for who gets the winner. 

Evloev has already expressed interest in a No. 1 contender fight with Ortega, who he has criticized for staying in the highest five of the division despite his inactivity.  

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Kristen King

Kristen King is a author for Bloody Elbow. She has covered combat sports since 2016, getting her start with outlets similar to FanSided, MyMMANews and MMA-Prospects. She joined the BE team in 2020, covering a combination of reports, events and injuries. In her time with BE, Kristen has created ‘Fright of the Night,’ a series that highlights among the worst injuries in the game.

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