Just moments ago, former UFC Featherweight title challenger, Brian Ortega, failed to make weight for his highly-anticipated UFC Shanghai co-main event clash versus former Bantamweight kingpin Aljamain Sterling. Though officially allowed to tip the scales at 146-pounds, Ortega never actually made it to the scales sources told MMAmania. Subsequently, his planned bout versus “Funkmaster” has been scrapped off the UFC Shanghai card entirely.
“T-City” has long been one of the bigger Featherweights on the roster, and he’s hinted at a Lightweight move in the past. At 34 years of age, it’s likely that the extreme water cut is growing more and more difficult for Ortega, so there’s a reasonably high chance this is his last attempt at making the Featherweight limit.
Ahead of UFC Shanghai, both Ortega and Sterling were looking to rebound from losses to Diego Lopes and Movsar Evloev respectively. The winner should have returned to Featherweight contention, but Ortega’s trouble at the scale throws a wrench into those plans …. and not for the first time. In all likelihood, the match up will not be rebooked at a later date, and Sterling’s would-be return to the Featherweight title mix will have to wait. One wonders if Ortega will go the way of Bryan Battle after this latest incident.
Stay tuned as more details are expected to emerge on this developing story.
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