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Brett Okamoto
Brian Ortega‘s move to lightweight has been postponed, again.
Ortega (16-5) has withdrawn from his 155-pound bout against Renato Moicano (20-7-1) at UFC 326 because of nagging injuries, the former featherweight title challenger announced Friday.
Ortega, 34, has been talking about a move up to lightweight for more than a year, but unexpected opportunities at 145 pounds and now injuries have prevented it from happening.
«I’m OK, health is good, no surgeries or nothing crazy like that,» Ortega revealed on Instagram. «But I do need to take a little bit of some time off to nurse these injuries that I have right now.
«It just sucks, where it’s not crazy like that where I need to have surgery, but I have to rest it and let it heal and chill, and get some physical therapy.»
Ortega first discussed the move to lightweight in 2024, but ultimately took a matchup against Diego Lopes at UFC 303 in June of that year. He was forced to withdraw from that matchup the week of the fight because of medical complications that arose during his weight cut.
The cancellation resulted in the UFC rebooking the Lopes pairing several months later. Ortega went on to face Aljamain Sterling in a planned featherweight bout in August, even after he was hospitalized during his cut.
Ortega challenged unsuccessfully for the featherweight title in 2018 and 2021.
The UFC has not announced a replacement for Moicano. UFC 326 is set for March 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
