Injured Brian Ortega breaks his silence about his decision to withdraw from his upcoming featherweight clash against Chan Sung Jung.
The former featherweight contender was slated to tussle with ‘The Korean Zombie’ in the main event of UFC Fight Night in Busan, South Korea on December 21.
Days away from his scheduled return, ‘T-City’ pulled out of the UFC Busan headlining fight due to ‘an undisclosed injury’ as per a report from ESPN’s Ariel Helwani.
It could have been Ortega’s first Octagon appearance since his technical knockout loss to Max Holloway in their December 2018 title bout.
Prior to this defeat, he was riding an impressive six-fight winning streak, including huge victories over Frankie Edgar, Renato Moicano, and Cub Swanson.
Hours after the news of his withdrawal broke out, Ortega has taken to social media to shed light about his recent setback.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B2xh218lmgs/
ACL Tear
In a recent Instagram post, Ortega revealed he sustained a partial ACL tear, which requires him to sit out for one to three months.
“I tore my ACL in training and I won’t be fighting in Korea,” the American 145-pounder wrote.
“Thankfully it was only a partial tear so I’m already rehabbing it and the plan is to be back to 100% in 1-3 months.”
While Ortega doesn’t want to disappoint MMA fans, fighting ‘The Korean Zombie’ later this month could make the injury even worse.
“I didn’t want to let down the fans, The Zombie, and the UFC, so I strongly considered pushing through it and fighting anyways, but according to the doctors, the risk of a full rupture in the fight was high and that would put me out for up to a year.”
“Sorry guys I gotta take care of this right now, but I’ll make it all up to you in 2020 I promise.”
Injury Bug
The road to his second title shot has become tougher for ‘T-City’ as the injury bug continues to hit his young UFC career.
Following his TKO loss to Holloway, Ortega needed to spend the next months recovering from hand, nose, and foot injuries.
The second-ranked featherweight has been very eager to return to action and has even vowed to stain Sung-Jung’s record with another loss.
“He’s coming off an impressive win against [Renato] Moicano, but if you look at his last five fights, win, loss, win, loss, win,” Ortega told BJPenn.com in an interview last summer.
“Looks like he’s due for another L.”
With Ortega out of UFC Busan due to injury, who do you think should ‘The Korean Zombie’ fight in the card’s headliner?
(Featured Image Source: Instagram/ The Korean Zombie and Brian Ortega)