Photo by Woohae Cho/Zuffa LLC
Brian Ortega has released a statement following his withdrawal from UFC Busan.
Earlier this week it was announced that top-three featherweight Brian Ortega had been forced to withdraw from UFC Fight Night 165 due to an undisclosed injury.
The 28-year-old was scheduled to meet Chan Sung Jung — better known as ‘Korean Zombie’ — in the main event at Sajik Arena in Busan, South Korea.
Ortega claims to have suffered an ACL tear in training and will be out of action for the next two to three months. ‘T-City’ hasn’t fought since his title loss to Max Holloway back in December of 2018.
“I tore my ACL in training and I won’t be fighting in Korea,” Ortega wrote on Instagram. “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. 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.”
The UFC announced on Thursday that former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar would step in as Ortega’s replacement and face Korean Zombie in the new UFC Fight Night 165 main event, which takes place later this month, December 21.