Brian Ortega emerged victorious at UFC Mexico successfully submitting ‘El Pantera’ in the third round. The win marked Ortega’s redemption after losing out in the very first round the last time he fought Yair Rodriguez. Now, with potential title contendership on its way, Ortega’s coach has just revealed an interesting detail.

In the build-up to the fight, Ortega was training hard. Clearly, he’s put in the work he needed to put Rodriguez in the unforgiving arm-triangle choke. However, did he train a little bit too hard? Here’s what his coach revealed about a brutal injury ahead of the fight.

Brian Ortega was injured but not defeated

Brian Ortega was on the receiving end of a vicious headbutt in training that tore open his left eyelid. It was a cut that could have easily endangered the fight. However, ‘T-City’ decided to power through. It was something that surprised everyone, including his coach, Rener Gracie.

According to him, the wound took four stitches on the inside and more on the outside. Clearly, not an ideal situation for someone who’s about to face the full force of Rodriguez’s striking power. Here’s how everything went ahead of the bout.

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“Three weeks before the fight, Brian caught a nasty head butt while training @GracieUniversityHQ. Slide 2. It was so deep that he had to get 4 stitches on the inside and 10 on the surface. Slide 3. Being so close to the fight we knew that one light punch in that region would have busted it right open.”

“It was our biggest concern (until he rolled his ankle during Round O The day after the stitches went in, when I texted him asking if he still wanted to fight, he and @mikesaffaie sent me a video response. Slide 4.” The slides would show the brutal cut before the final slide, which had footage of Brian Ortega back at his usual BJJ training all over again. Now, he’s won and looks forward to a potential title bout.

Ortega happy to replace Alexander Volkanovski

Brian Ortega was rather vocal about defending the honor of Alexander Volkanovski at the UFC Mexico press conference. He was upset about the online disrespect Volkanovski was receiving for being knocked out so quickly. He spoke about how ‘Volk’ was still a great champion who reigned for long.

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At the same time, he also expressed his interest in going up against Ilia Topuria for the featherweight title in Spain. That is only if Volkanovski decides to step back and take a break for the time being. If the former champ can’t go, Brian Ortega could just get a great title shot.

However, Volkanovski isn’t sold on the idea of taking too long to come back. He wants a rematch and he’ll accept it as soon as the UFC green lights it. So it looks like ‘T-City’ might just have to win a fight or two more before he can challenge the rightful champion. Will he keep on winning?

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