Well… that explains a lot.
Former two-time Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Featherweight title challenger Brian Ortega
is officially moving up to Lightweight — and after hearing this, it’s easy to see why.Ortega was scheduled to face Renato Moicano in a rematch at UFC 326 last month, but an injury forced him out. Now, speaking on a podcast hosted by Dominick Cruz, “T-City” revealed the real reason behind the move up in weight.
The cuts were getting out of control.
“We had Moicano lined up in the
books, we said let’s go to 155 so we’re not cutting as much weight anymore,” Ortega said. “[My coach] said, ‘You’re getting older, and these 40-pound weight cuts aren’t it anymore. From 185 to 145.”
Forty pounds.
And for what?
“Honestly, there was never any real reason other than: that’s my weight class,” Ortega admitted. “I can still make it.”
For years, he did — without officially missing weight. But recently, it caught up to him in a big way.
At UFC 303 in 2024, Ortega was forced to change his fight against Diego Lopes to Lightweight on just one day’s notice due to weight-cutting issues, before ultimately withdrawing the night of the fight — leading to Dan Ige stepping in on hours’ notice in what was one of the craziest things in UFC history.
That situation was chaotic.
But what happened in China was far more serious.
Ahead of his bout with Aljamain Sterling, Ortega fainted during his weight cut, was hospitalized, and revealed he slipped into a coma for roughly 30 minutes — yet still went on to compete.
A scary reality.
Now, those extreme cuts are behind him.
Ortega says he’s walking around at a much healthier 173 pounds and feels far better physically.
“173 is about [the sweet spot],” he said. “I can do three or five rounds. It was all bad habits, and I’ve been slowly fixing them.”
As for what’s next?
Ortega still wants to fight Moicano — and the Brazilian, who has since fought, is on a warpath to get that fight booked once again.
