“Had to get 14 stitches” – Brian Ortega’s BJJ coach reveals featherweight star suffering GRUESOME cut three weeks out from Yair Rodriguez fight

Explore Brian Ortega's triumphant return to the octagon, battling through injuries and adversity to claim victory over Yair Rodriguez.

“Had to get 14 stitches” – Brian Ortega’s BJJ coach reveals featherweight star suffering GRUESOME cut three weeks out from Yair Rodriguez fight

Brian Ortega had suffered an injury three weeks before fight with Yair Rodriguez (Image via: IMAGO, Instagram)

Brian Ortega submitted Yair Rodriguez in the co-main event of the recent UFC Mexico Fight Night. The victory was Ortega’s first since October 2020, when he defeated The Korean Zombie. His victory was not without adversity, as Rodriguez had out-landed Ortega before the finish. Moreover, Ortega had rolled his ankle while Bruce Buffer announced his name.

The fight with Rodriguez was a rematch of their fight that ended in stoppage after a rotator cuff injury on Ortega. Now, Rener Gracie, the BJJ coach of Ortega, revealed that Ortega suffered a gruesome cut above his left three weeks before the fight with Rodriguez. Gracie posted the pictures of the cut on his Instagram. This is what he captioned the post.

It was so deep that he had to get 4 stitches on the inside and 10 on the surface.
Rener Gracie via Instagram
YouTube video

Gracie did not think the fight would continue due to the cut. However, Ortega surprised Gracie as he expressed no intention to pull out from the fight. Gracie also revealed the time when the cut happened on Instagram. The video showed that the cut happened during a grappling session on the ground. The cut happened when Ortega’s sparring partner inadvertently headbutted him.

FS Video

The injury video was not the only one before the fight video released by Team Ortega. They had earlier released a video that showed Ortega practicing the same submission maneuver he used to submit Rodriguez.

Brian Ortega on the featherweight title picture

Days before Brian Ortega’s victory over Yair Rodriguez, the featherweight title changed hands at UFC 298. Ilia Topuria defeated Alexander Volkanovski, the long-reigning champion at UFC 298. Before the fight with Rodriguez, Ortega had stated that he did not feel that Volkanovski looked like the same fighter he fought at UFC 266.

Brian Ortega
Brian Ortega (via Imago)

Ortega was noncommittal before the fight about whether he had title aspirations. However, he did reveal his plans at the post-fight press conference. He was okay with Volkanovski getting an immediate rematch, but he could step in if it did not happen. Furthermore, he even expressed interest in fighting Topuria in Spain.

Both Rodriguez and Ortega had lost to Volkanovski and the champion before, Max Holloway. Ortega’s fight with Volkanovski won the 2021 Fight of the Year award from multiple media outlets. In the fight, Volkanovski survived a mounted guillotine and a triangle choke submission attempt from Ortega. On the other hand, Ortega showed immense toughness as he caught a second win to finish the fight strong in round 5.

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