UFC Mexico results: Brian Ortega scores amazing comeback, Brandon Moreno loses epic war

UFC Mexico just wrapped up in Mexico City with a couple of high-profile, five-round headliners in Brandon Moreno vs Brandon Royval and Yair Rodriguez vs Brian Ortega.

In the main event, No. 3 ranked contender Royval took on former champion and current No. 1 ranked flyweight Brandon Moreno in a rematch. Both fighters gave it their all and put on a real banger of a fight. It was an incredibly close bout where the American Royval ended up defeating the hometown hero Moreno by split decision, avenging a loss from 2020.

Two judges had Brandon Royval winning with 48-47 scorecards while one judge had it 49-46 to Brandon Moreno.

Afterwards, Royval took aim at the reigning champ Alexandre Pantoja who was sitting cageside.

“I’m a f*cking gangster. I’m the realest one in this f*cking flyweight division. Everybody wants to grab me all day. Speaking of grabbing, I hear Pantoja’s in the building, let’s run that sh*t back motherf*cker,” Brandon Royval shouted in his post-fight interview, adding that he is ”going to people’s houses taking their sh*t”, suggesting that he’d be down to fight Pantoja on the champ’s home turf in Brazil.

UFC 301 is scheduled to go down in Rio de Janeiro on May 4. It remains to be seen if a Pantoja vs Royval 2 championship rematch ends up getting booked for that card.

Brian Ortega rolls ankle during introduction, turns the tide against Yair Rodriguez in co-main event

In a co-headliner scheduled for five rounds, American-Mexican Brian Ortega–a No. 4 ranked featherweight contender–was getting battered by Mexican star and former interim champ Yair Rodriguez. However, Ortega managed to survive the early onslaught and turn things around before finishing the top-3-ranked opponent by third-round submission.

Amazingly, Ortega seemed to accidentally roll his ankle jsut before the fight started, during the introductions inside the octagon. And while it looked dark for him early in the first round, Ortega displayed incredible heart and started to turn the tables later in that round, never allowing Rodriguez to get back into the fight as ”T-City” moved on to win round two before sinking in an arm-triangle choke 58 seconds into round three.

UFC Mexico results: Who else won besides Brandon Royval and Brian Ortega?

Check out the official UFC Mexico results down below!

• Brandon Royval def. Brandon Moreno via split decision (48-47, 46-49, 48-47)
• Brian Ortega def. Yair Rodriguez via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 3, 0:58
• Daniel Zellhuber def. Francisco Prado via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-26)
• Yazmin Jauregui def. Sam Hughes via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Manuel Torres def. Chris Duncan via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 1:46
• Raoni Barcelos def. Christian Quinonez via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 2:04
• Jesus Aguilar def. Mateus Mendonca via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
• Edgar Chairez def. Daniel Lacerda via submission ( triangle choke) – Round 1, 2:17
• Fares Ziam def. Claudio Puelles via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 29-28)
• Luis Rodriguez def. Denys Bondar via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 4:59
• Felipe dos Santos def. Victor Altamirano via split decision (27-30, 29-28, 29-28)
• Muhammad Naimov def. Erik Silva via TKO (injury) – Round 1, 0:44

What happened to the Raul Rosas Jr vs Ricky Turcios fight?

19-year-old Mexican prospect Raul Rosas Jr. was supposed to compete against Ricky Turcios on the main card. However, Rosas Jr. fell ill and the bout was subsequently scrapped just minutes before walkouts.

The fight has been rebooked for next week’s UFC Vegas 87 card at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, it was announced during the UFC Mexico broadcast.

UFC Mexico bonuses: Four fighters walk away with 50K

As per usual, four 50,000 dollar post-fight bonuses were awarded following the event.

• Performance of the Night: Brian Ortega
• Performance of the Night: Manuel Torres
• Fight of the Night: Daniel Zellhuber vs Francisco Prado

Read more: PFL vs. Bellator results: SHOCKING 21-second KO in main event – Francis Ngannou next?

Follow Frontkick on Instagram!