Amidst rumors that the fight was off, the highly anticipated showdown between former featherweight title challenger Brian Ortega and ex-bantamweight champ Aljamain Sterling will move forward – at a catchweight.
News swirled during Thursday’s (Friday local time) UFC Shanghai official weigh-in that Ortega had been hospitalized, with rumors of an ambulance seen at the fighter hotel. The entire card had weighed in before the UFC finally announced that both Ortega and Sterling had hit the scales at 153 pounds for their co-main event fight.
That’s well above the contracted featherweight limit, which should have maxed out at 146lbs. And sometimes, where there’s smoke, there’s fire – it does appear that Brian Ortega struggled with his weight cut. However, barring any last minute obstacles, it appears the fight will move forward.
Whether the future of “T-City” remains at featherweight, however, is yet to be seen.
Sterling (24-5) moved to featherweight in conjunction with UFC 300 last year, winning his debut there against Calvin Kattar. The “Funkmaster” followed that up with a loss against the unbeaten Movsar Evloev back in December.
Ortega (16-4, 1NC) is 1-3 in his last four trips to the octagon, and will enter the fight coming off a loss against Diego Lopes.
UFC Shanghai takes place Saturday, August 23, 2025 and is headlined by light heavyweights Johnny Walker and Zhang Mingyang.
