“T-City” battled through adversity.
Brian Ortega scored a huge win last night at UFC Mexico City (Sat., Feb. 24, 2024) when he tapped Yair Rodriguez in the second round via arm-triangle choke from inside Arena CDMX in Mexico City, Mexico (watch highlights). Ortega picked up a $50,000 Performance of the Night for his wicked submission win.
Before the co-main event even got underway, during Ortega’s Bruce Buffer introduction, he rolled his ankle while jumping. Check out the injury below:
Obviously, Ortega fought through the pain of his ankle and scored the win, but it wasn’t without a lot of adversity.
“T-City” talked about rolling his ankle with the media during the UFC Mexico City post-fight press conference (watch here).
“Talk about things being stacked against me,” Ortega said. “Bruce was introducing me, and then I jumped up, and when I landed, I rolled my ankle. I was like, ‘Oh, shoot’ and then I looked at my coach, and was like, ‘Bro, this is bad.’ And he’s like,’ don’t you f—king worry about it’, you know he was just telling me like get in the zone and doesn’t matter. When they were introducing [Yair], I was trying to flex my ankle like, come on bro, work. Don’t you dare fail me right now; like we got five rounds it’s not even a regular co-main event.
So, I’d be lying if I said panic didn’t set in for a bit,” Ortega continued. “Obviously, right off the bat, I started off, and I got clipped, and then I paid the price for not being in the zone and focused on what I was supposed to do. I survived it. I don’t remember, but I think I ended up somehow taking him down at the end of that first. And then I walked back, and the adrenaline kicked in, and I was like, ‘Alright, there we go.’ …It was hurting, and obviously when you’re paying attention to it, it’s hard to really focus on the fight. I was like dude, this would happen right now, like, what an idiot! You roll your ankle right now in front of 22,000 people. You are about to have a war with his tough guy in Mexico, and everyone’s going for him. Like, come on, bro. So I just had to fight some demons in there.”
Ortega got back into the win column for the first time since his demolition of The Korean Zombie in Oct. 2020 and possibly scored a Featherweight No. 1 contender spot.
For complete UFC Mexico City results, coverage, and highlights, click HERE.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
