Brian Ortega reveals REAL reason for requesting no hand raise after submitting Yair Rodriguez at UFC Mexico City

Brian Ortega explains his reason to not have his hand raised at UFC Mexico.

Brian Ortega reveals REAL reason for requesting no hand raise after submitting Yair Rodriguez at UFC Mexico City

Brian Ortega explains not having his hand raised after winning against Yair Rodriguez at UFC Mexico (via Imago)

Brian Ortega and Yair Rodriguez clashed heads at UFC Mexico last weekend. Ortega won the fight via third-round submission. But, during the winner announcement, ‘T-City’ didn’t let the referee raise his hands. A trimmed clip of it went viral on social media. Now, Ortega explained why he didn’t want his hand raised.

In an interview with Gracie Breakdown, Brian Ortega joined Rener Gracie to break down his fight with Yair Rodriguez. As such, ‘T-City’ spoke about why he requested the referee not to raise his hand despite winning the bout. He said ‘El Pantera’ was a good sport and didn’t want his hands raised as a sign of respect. Here is what he said:

I didn’t want to. At the end of the day, I told him ‘to raise my hand in front of you, I don’t have any problems with you. You’ve been nothing but a good sport’. The fans won, they got a show. Mission accomplished, we did what we had to do
Brian Ortega via Gracie Breakdown
YouTube video

Throughout the buildup of the fight, Brian Ortega and Yair Rodriguez remained respectful of each other. Ortega even brought his sons to one of the face-offs, and ‘El Pantera’ enjoyed the moment. As such, ‘T-City’ didn’t feel it was right to have his hand raised in front of someone that he didn’t have any problems with.

This victory marked the return of Brian Ortega, who hadn’t fought for over a year. Now, he slid his name right back in title contention. As such, many believed a title or a title eliminator was next for Ortega. As for Yair Rodriguez, he found himself in a tough spot. He has lost twice after claiming the interim title and now has to earn his way back to title contention.

Brian Ortega answers what’s next for him

After the spectacular submission win at UFC Mexico, Brian Ortega remains positioned to fight for the title. However, when asked about it, ‘T-City’ put Alexander Volkanovski in front of the line. ‘The Great’ lost his title to Ilia Topuria at UFC 298. As such, he praised the accolades of the Australian champion and opposed those who bad-mouthed him.

Brian Ortega is willing to to face Ilia Topuria in Spain
Brian Ortega is willing to face Ilia Topuria in Spain (via TimesNow/UFC/SPORT)

In the post-fight press conference, Brian Ortega gave Alexander Volkanovksi his flowers and acknowledged the former champion deserved a rematch with Ilia Topuria. However, Ortega was willing to fight Topuria in case he was unavailable. As such, he also welcomed the challenge of going to enemy territory.

Brian Ortega has fought for the featherweight strap twice in UFC 231 and UFC 266 against Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski. But he failed on both his attempts. As such, he looked to turn it right this time. However, he was willing to let Volkanovski get his deserved rematch first. As such, one has to wait to see how things play out in the featherweight division.

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