The tournament, which took place in Mexico City on February 24th, was headlined by Brandon Moreno and Brandon Royval. At the co-main event card was no.4 ranked featherweight fighter Yair Rodriguez vs former inactive fighter Brian Ortega. The match was Rodriguez’s first debut after his TKO loss to Alexander Volkanovski in July 2023. Before this loss, Rodriguez had a winning streak which saw him defeat Josh Emmett and Brian Ortega. On the other hand, Ortega had not competed in any MMA fights after suffering a shoulder injury and a defeat in his fight against Rodriguez in 2022.
Opening the round, Ortega came in with an ankle injury after performing a jump during his stretches in the octagon. The injury didn’t slow him down as he stalked Rodriguez around the cage and delivered a left-right jab combo. Rodriguez recovered quickly and countered with a massive shot that sent him to the floor. He chased him down with a flurry of punches and strikes, but “T-City” managed to get back on his feet and retaliate with precise strikes of his own.
Halfway into the opening round, Ortega starts to get into the game and land fatal strikes, but Rodriguez clinches and delivers a knee to the body. Rodriguez follows with jabs and kicks before flooring Ortega with a low leg kick and proceeds to land some heavy ground pounds and strikes on Ortega. Still, Ortega found some wiggle room and mounted Rodriguez before the first round came to an end.
The two came in swinging in the second round, and Ortega found his mark with a few hits. He tried for a takedown but could only grab hold of one of Rodriguez’s feet. Shortly after, he was able to achieve his aim after picking up his opponent and body-slamming him into the canvas. Ortega slowly worked into Rodriguez’s guard and landed deadly blows and elbow shots that left Rodriguez quite bloody in the second round.
Ortega goes for a clinch immediately round three begins and trips Rodriguez, sending him to the mat. He went for a few elbow shots, then an arm triangle choke, leading to Rodriguez’s submission.
Speaking at a post-fight interview, Ortega said. “It’s a wrap. I’ve been training super hard. I have my life together. I’m not going to be an idiot anymore. I’m walking a straight line. We trained nonstop for three months. I know that i look beat up right now but those whole three months were horrible”.
Ortega is a black belt jiu-jitsu holder who is best at absorbing blows and persevering through fights. The fighter had a seven-fight unbeaten streak but lost three in his last four bouts to Max Holloway, Alexander Volkanovski and Yair Rodriguez..
