Brian Ortega has been forced to withdraw with his main event fight with ‘The Korean Zombie’ Chan Sung Jung at UFC Fight Night 165 on December 21st in South Korea after suffering an ACL injury.
Thankfully, Ortega has confirmed in a statement that his ACL is only partially torn, so it’s not going to keep him out of action for a long time, but he definitely won’t be ready for the event in just two weeks time.
“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 percent in 2-3 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 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 up to all of you [in] 2020, I promise.”
The injury blow means that Ortega won’t register a fight in 2019, with his last outing being a fourth round TKO loss to Max Holloway in a featherweight title challenge in December of last year, which had brought an end to Ortega’s previously unbeaten 14-0 (+1nc) record.
The UFC will now likely be hunting for a short notice replacement to keep The Korean Zombie on the card, especially since the event is being held in his own homeland.
