Brian Ortega responds to backlash over pulling out of UFC 331: ‘You guys, rightfully so, have earned that anger towards me’

Brian Ortega understands why people are upset.

On Saturday, Ortega was supposed to make his official UFC lightweight debut in a fight against Renato Moicano at UFC 331. But earlier this week, Ortega pulled out of the fight after suffering a cut over his left eyebrow that required stitches. This is the second time this year Ortega has pulled out of a fight with Moicano, previously doing so for their scheduled bout at UFC 326, and as such, “T-City” has received a lot of backlash online.

On Tuesday, Ortega posted a response on his social media.

“For all of you are saying that I pulled out because I’m scared, I’m ducking, whatever; you guys are stupid people among stupid people, straight up,” Ortega said. “I’m not even gonna sugarcoat that shit. You guys are some dumbasses.

“For those of you who are mad because I pulled out and you genuinely want to watch me fight, and you’re mad at the situation, you’re mad that this shit happened, for you guys, I’m sorry, and I apologize from the bottom of my heart. I’m sorry. That shit ain’t cool.

“This is not something that I expected to happen. There are where I’ve hid this, and I went out there and fought regardless, and I went out there and put on a show for you guys because you guys deserve that. You guys deserve to watch me show up in L.A. and fight in front of my hometown, and put on a great show with a good opponent. And this happening is something — I just can’t hide this. I would have to see the commission today, and I would have to hide this from them, and that’s just not going to happen. I can’t wear glasses when they’re checking me; there’s no makeup that’s going to hide how swollen my eye and everything is.

“For you guys, I’m sorry. Genuinely, I apologize. My feelings aside, I know what I’ve sacrificed, I know what all this means to me, but at the end of the day, I have this job because of you guys. People tune in to watch because I show up and show out for you guys, and this happening; this shit just ain’t it. This shit just ain’t it. I’m f*cking sorry.

“You guys talk shit, I’ll take it. Straight up, I’ll take it. You guys, rightfully so, have earned that anger towards me. I hope that you can forgive me; find it in your heart to be like, hey man, this is not what I wanted to happen, and all I could do was go and get into another training camp, sacrifice more time, and put in more effort, train smarter.

“This is a freak accident that happened doing jiu-jitsu. I wasn’t sparring; I was doing jiu-jitsu. Going over the last details, the last game plans, getting just a last sweat, and this f*cking headbutt happened. At the time, they said it was a small cut. I was happy, and then when we found out how many stitches it was and how big it was — we just can’t hide that, man. I tried. I wanted to. Everyone in my team said, ‘It would be stupid for you to go out there.’ I was still gonna go out there, just say f*ck it, but California Commission, I’m not gonna pass if I show up like this.

“Thank you guys for still rocking with me, and for those of you who are pissed off, I hope I gain your love back on the next one, and I can just show you guys who I really am and get back to doing what I really do.”

A two-time featherweight title challenger, Ortega’s had a tough few years in his career, losing four of his last five bouts and having several weight-related issues before fights. Most recently, he lost a unanimous decision to Aljamain Sterling at UFC Shanghai in August of 2025.