Brian Ortega has revealed how he fell unconscious during a botched weight cut in Shanghai just 24 hours before delivering a lethargic unanimous decision loss to Aljamain Sterling last month.
There had been rumors flying around during weigh-in day that Ortega had been hospitalized, and ‘T-City’ has now confirmed that was true.
“On Thursday, we hit the first one,” Ortega said in an Instagram video recalling that day. “We got down to ‘51. Second one, later on, I decided to jump the gun on that one at 12. We cut from midnight all the way until 8 in the morning, cutting weight the entire time. I realized I had 1.7 to go still. We were confused on how my body wasn’t really pouring out the water, why it was just holding it in, but no matter what we have to get this weight off so we did.
“We went downstairs at about 8, 8-something, decided to cut more weight. Put the plastics on, Sweet Sweat, the whole thing. I did 20 minutes on the bike. Once I went off, I went unconscious. I was unconscious for about 30 minutes. During that time, they were putting ice on me. They took all my clothes off and left me in boxers. Woke up in the ER.”
Despite coming too in hospital Ortega decided he still wanted to weigh-in, though anyone who saw him step onto the scales that day knew that he was a bad idea as he looked absolutely terrible, and unsurprisingly it turns out that’s exactly how he felt.
“If you saw the weigh-ins, you obviously know that I looked delirious and just coming off of being 30 minutes unconscious in the tunnel, what they say,” Ortega said. “After that, weighed in. We figured if I didn’t feel good or if something was seriously off that we would call the fight. No matter who you are, your health comes first, always stand by that.“
Ortega says he even spoke directly to his opponent Aljamain Sterling about the situation, and opted not to take his advice to let a stand-in opponent take his place.
“Aljamain came to me, and he talked to me, and he said, ‘Hey man, I heard what happened.’
“I said, ‘I was under for 30 minutes, I ain’t going to lie to you. We have the same manager, I know he told you. I’m here, I’m trying and I’m going to show up.’
“He said, ‘They already have a replacement fighter, don’t worry about it.’ But I told him, ‘No, I don’t want to waste your time.’ And I showed up.”
It was a brave, but ultimately misguided decision that the show must go on from the former title challenger.
“I didn’t feel good,” Ortega said. “I wanted to call it off. I got up and just walking outside I almost passed out and fainted. Everything in my body’s telling me not to fight.
“First and foremost, I decided to fight for my family. That’s my job, to show up and do what I do for them. I fought for my family. Secondly, I fought for you guys. You guys have always shown me love, you guys have always supported me, no matter what. It would be unfair to not show up for you guys, regardless of excuses, you just show up and do what you’ve got to do.”
The resulting fight was easily the worst of Ortega’s career as he went through the motions, but struggled to get out of first gear for much of the fight, allowing Sterling to cruise to victory.
“I was afraid, I’m not going to lie,” Ortega admits. “Being unconscious for 30 minutes and then fighting the next day, but I decided to go for it, still. The outcome was what the outcome was.
“Good job to Aljo for a game plan well played. He was slick with his movement, very smart point fighter, smart fight on his end. I’m more of a fan of having wars. Call me crazy, but that’s what I was hoping for, a good grappling war, but it didn’t happen, neither did the victory.”
