Brian Ortega made a huge mistake before entering the cage of UFC Mexico City last Saturday night. Just with a single wrong jump while being introduced, the fighter rolled his ankle, giving him an instant injury even before facing Yair Rodriguez in the cage.
Ortega headlined the event against Rodriguez last weekend. However, before the bout even started, “T-City” already experienced an issue. The injury was immediately spotted by many. The fighter himself didn’t deny the mistake, which he claimed started with one wrong move.
“Talk about things stacked against me,” Ortega said during the event’s post-fight press conference. “Bruce [Buffer] was introducing me, and then I jumped up, and when I landed, I rolled my ankle. I was like, ‘Oh shoot.’ I looked at my coach, and I was like, ‘This is bad.’ He’s like, ‘Don’t you effing worry about this.’ He was just telling me get in the zone; it doesn’t matter…
“It was hurting, and obviously, when you’re paying attention to it, it’s hard to really focus on the fight. I’m like, ‘Dude, this is what happened right now. What an idiot. You roll your ankle right now in front of 22,000 people, and you have a war with this tough guy in Mexico, and everyone’s going for him.’ Like, come on, bro. I had to fight some demons in there.”
In hopes of resolving the problem before the fight, Ortega tried to move his ankle but admitted that the pain continued even inside the cage. Initially, the fighter’s struggle in the match was noticeable, but surprisingly, he was able to mount Rodriguez in the second round and end the fight in the third through an arm-triangle choke to push the submission. For him, this was all possible through his focus.
“When they were introducing him, I was trying to flex my ankle, like, ‘Come on, work, don’t you dare fail me right now,” Ortega added. “We’ve got five rounds; it’s not even a regular co-main event!’ I’d be lying if I said panic didn’t set in for a bit. Then, obviously, I started just off. Right off the bat, I started, I got clipped, and then I paid the price for not being in the zone and focused on what I was supposed to do. I survived it.”