Is it Time the UFC Cut Brian Ortega?

Brian Ortega vs Renato Moicano has been officially scrapped from UFC 331 this weekend. T-City suffered an undisclosed injury and therefore is not fighting this weekend.

This marks the second straight fight that he has pulled out of after originally being scheduled to face Moicano in a rematch on March 7th at UFC 326.

It might be time for the UFC to cut ties with T-City after a dismal run of both form and a disappointing injury record in recent years.

Pull Outs and Losses

It began to go wrong for T-City when he faced Max Holloway in 2018. Undefeated at 14-0, he challenged for the title and was so badly beaten in that one that the doctors stopped things in between rounds four and five. Clips emerged suggesting that the champion, Holloway, was even giving Ortega advice on how to defend himself in that bout; however, nothing was ever confirmed.

After that terrible beating, Ortega took a prolonged period of time off and was matched with Chan Sung Jung in December 2019, a whole year after his loss to Holloway. He would ultimately withdraw from that fight due to an ACL injury and return to face Jung in October 2020.

Dominating the fight, Ortega earned himself another title fight, this time against Alexander Volkanovski. After the fight was delayed due to the champion testing positive for COVID-19, Ortega would lose another one-sided title challenge.

He was then matched with Yair Rodriguez but would suffer an injury in the first round, forcing the referee to step in and stop things before they truly got started.

The two men would rematch, although it would be almost two years in the making with Ortega sitting on the sidelines for the entire time. He would win that fight in the third round, earning himself a performance bonus.

Looking to carry that momentum into his next outing, T-City was matched with Diego Lopes but would pull out of the fight on fight night, being replaced by Dan Ige on just a few hours' notice. That one was re-booked for UFC 306 at The Sphere, but again, Ortega would lose a one-sided outing.

After almost another year out of the Octagon, the American would return to face former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling. To show his worth, they made him a five-round co-main event in China, where he was well beaten by Aljo. That fight happened in August 2025 and was a catchweight fight at 153lbs due to weight cut complications.

Since that fight, he's been scheduled to face Renato Moicano on two separate occasions, pulling out of both fights.

His record since losing to Holloway sits at 2-4 with five postponed fights.

Should the UFC cut Ortega?

Brian Ortega is no longer a big draw. Granted, when he came up against Holloway, he was seen as a potential phenom. He'd been on a run of six straight finishes over names such as Cub Swanson and Frankie Edgar. Now, he seems like an easy fight for anyone within the top 15.

With a history of pulling out of fights, putting on lacklustre performances and overall not impressing, it might be time for the UFC to cut ties with T-City.

When you consider that the UFC cut Michael Page, despite having a record of 6-1 in the UFC. In his last seven fights, Ortega has a record of 2-5. 

He'll never cut it at the top again, and the META rankings have him outside of the top 15. It's time to cut ties for good.