Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega had a rather epic fight over the weekend – but even though the fight went the full distance it probably shouldn’t have. The incredibly suspect part of it happened at the end of round 3. Ortega got hit in a particularly bad barrage of punches that had him laying on the floor as the buzzer went off – and he seemed rather incoherent. In fact, if you watched closely you could see Herb Dean was questioning if to call it a day once the buzzer went and Ortega seemed unable to get up.
In fact later Ortega seemed unaware he was being offered water and did breathing exercises instead of taking a sip:
.@alexvolkanovski admits “tough” Brian Ortega wasn’t answering the referee’s questions right between rounds at #UFC266:
“He answered every question wrong.”
Watch full video: https://t.co/BC6HoDycS3 pic.twitter.com/OWj53hd2My
— MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) September 26, 2021
Volkanovski definitely has a point. There was extra time given to Ortega to get in there and recover – and honestly this was a mistake to begin with. Dean should’ve called it at the end of the round instead of letting the fight go on.
Things you love to see…@alexvolkanovski ?? @BrianTcity
Nothing but respect to these two warriors for an absolute war! ?#UFC266 pic.twitter.com/deomTcyxLU
— UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) September 26, 2021