SUMMARY
- Brain Ortega suffered a career threatening injury in 2022.
- "T-City" suffered a serious shoulder injury during his first fight against Yair Rodriguez.
Brian ‘T-City’ Ortega is a professional MMA fighter who competes in the UFC. The Mexican-American fighter competes at featherweight and is one of most highly-rated men in the weight division. Brian Ortega holds a professional MMA record of 15-3-0 (1NC).
He started pursuing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at the young age of 13. Ortega made his first professional appearance in MMA in 2010 more than 13 years ago. Since then he has moved to the UFC and made his way up to the very top. The talented BJJ practitioner is scheduled to fight in his rematch against Yair ‘El Pantera’ Rodriguez at the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 237.
Brian Ortega describes how he had to be reborn like an Eagle pic.twitter.com/sy02n1Oyd5
— Best MMA Moments (@XcellentMMA) February 22, 2024
T-City last fought at UFC Fight Night: Ortega vs. Rodriguez in July 2022. It has been almost two years since he last fought in the UFC. And the ghosts of last time will surely haunt him during the bout. That’s because the first time both of them faced off, the match ended on a very frustrating and painful note for Brian Ortega.
Brian Ortega had a ‘freak accident’ the last time he faced Yair Rodriguez
On July 16, 2022, Brian Ortega fought Yair Rodriguez which was billed as the no. 1 contender bout at the time. In this all-important matchup, Yair Rodriguez managed to come out on top. But not in the way either fighter would have wanted. Deep into the first round of the fight, Ortega and Rodriguez found themselves on the ground grappling each other to assert dominance.
That’s when Rodriguez got a hold of Brian Ortega’s arm and the shoulder somehow just gave away. It popped right out of the socket as it got dislocated, giving Yair the win via TKO. Ortega in an interview following this incident talked about what the doctors told him backstage.
He said, “That the grip was tight on my arm, and it dislocated. And that was it. No arm lock, no nothing, but it just dislocated. Freak accident and it just sucks. The first time it’s ever happened in my entire career, you know?” Ortega later went on to say, “I’m going to go MRI this as soon as I can, do what I have to do. I pray to God that I don’t have to get surgery.”
Sadly for the 33-year-old, destiny had already made its call and it wasn’t something he was going to cherish. As it would be not only 1 but 4 surgeries that he would have to go through before making his UFC comeback.
Ortega opens up about bouncing back from his shoulder injury
Brian Ortega reportedly had to go through 4 surgeries following his loss against Yair Rodriguez. After which he said, “I was thinking of not fighting anymore. I didn’t care about it. Yeah. I didn’t care about it… Life has hands, man, and it worked my life more than any opponent has ever.” Even before the fight against Yair, Ortega had 2 surgeries, one on each shoulder.
Apart from physical struggles he also went through a public breakup with Tracey Cortez which affected his mental state. He had to go through 2 more surgeries one on both elbows after 3 bones were protruding on the inside of his elbows.
This wasn’t all though, as he had to go through yet another surgery when an MRI scan he took due to weakness in his shoulder 2 weeks before he got the medical green flag, revealed that he needed surgical action. Ortega said, “The hardest one was the last one… mentally, emotionally, spiritually, just everything”. He was asked about how he managed to keep himself in the right frame of mind.
This was in another interview; to which Ortega answered, “Honestly, I started going to church a lot. Yeah, I started going to church a lot. I got introduced. You know, the pastor came up to me, came and grabbed me. I saw I was in a dark place. And then day by day, you know, I got good, then I got bad. I got good, then I got bad. But ultimately, I got better.”
Brian Ortega sure has gone through a lot in the past 18 months. Now set to make his comeback in the UFC against an unforgotten opponent; will he be able to clinch victory? Only time will tell.
