Brian Ortega’s lightweight debut will have to wait a little longer.
The South Bay fighter, who twice challenged for the UFC featherweight title, is off Saturday’s UFC 311 card due to injury and his rematch with Renato Moicano has been removed from the card, a source familiar with the situation confirmed.
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This marks the second postponement for their rematch, as Ortega (16-5, 1 NC) was forced to withdraw from UFC 326 in March due to what Ortega referred to as nagging injuries.
Ortega, 35, was moving up 10 pounds to the 155-pound division after his struggles making weight as a featherweight came to a head 13 months ago. His bout with former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling in Shanghai was fought at an agreed-upon catchweight of 153 and Ortega lost by unanimous decision.
The Brazilian jiu-jitsu standout, whose wife recently gave birth of their third son, had begun training with Antonio and A.J. McKee at Metroflex in Hawaiian Gardens after losing four of his last five fights.
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Ortega’s rematch with Moicano was a long time coming after Ortega submitted him via third-round guillotine choke at UFC 214 in July 2017 at Honda Center.
Moicano (21-7-1) will now take on Tom Nolan as the UFC Fight Night main event Oct. 31 at Meta APEX in Las Vegas.
UFC 311 is headlined by a rematch between flyweight champion Joshua Van and former champ Alexandre Pantoja.
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