Brian Ortega pulled off the spectacular in his hometown. The Mexican was part of the co-main event for UFC Mexico City. He took on Yair Rodriguez, one of the most explosive and unpredictable strikers in the division. The fight was a rematch, with the pair going up against each other back in July 2022. Ortega lost that fight and was looking for redemption. Surely, Ortega made a stunning comeback to the octagon with his victory.
Brian Ortega got caught with a clean strike from Yair Rodriguez early on and almost got knocked down. However, he fought back to win the fight via a choke.
The Sports Daily came up with an estimate for how much the UFC was paying the fighters for UFC Mexico City. According to them, Ortega was the third highest paid fighter.
WELCOME BACK BRIAN ORTEGA @BrianTCity submits Rodriguez for a HUGE victory at #UFCMexico pic.twitter.com/fn2yVkU5V8
— UFC (@ufc) February 25, 2024
The Mexican reportedly earned a base salary of $150,000, which is considerably less than what he earned in his last fight.
However, it is important to note that he did not fight on a PPV card. He earned a further $11,000 in incentives to bring his total salary up to $161,000.
Following his impressive fight, Ariel Helwani showered praise to Ortega for his victory.
Ariel Helwani praises Brian Ortega for his spectacular comeback against Yair Rodriguez
Brian Ortega did the unthinkable at UFC Mexico City. Yair Rodriguez had previously beaten the Mexican and Ortega was coming back from a long lay off.
All the odds were in Rodriguez’s favor. However, ‘T City’ was able to make a comeback to beat one of the top contenders in the division. Ariel Helwani had nothing but praise for the Mexican:
“Considering the layoff, the weird thing that happened with his foot/ankle during the intro, the first round … that is just a gigantic win for Brian Ortega. What a comeback. Impressive.”
Considering the layoff, the weird thing that happened with his foot/ankle during the intro, the first round … that is just a gigantic win for Brian Ortega. What a comeback. Impressive.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) February 25, 2024
Brian Ortega had a rough start to his return. During the fighter introductions by Bruce Buffer, he jumped and rolled his ankle causing concern for his team and fans.
Rodriguez then almost dropped him in the very first round of the fight. However, he battled back from all this to get a submission victory in front of his home crowd.
