Last night's UFC 248 card featured a lot of great MMA action from the opening bell to the co-main event, but there was another fight, although an unadvertised one, in the crowd.
That physical altercation in the crowd took place between UFC fighter Brian Ortega and Jay Park, who is the translator for UFC fighter Chan Sung Jung.
MMA Junkie reports that witnesses told them that Ortega approached Park as Joanna Jedrzejczyk was walking to the Octagon for her co-main event bout against UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion Zhang Weili. Ortega confronted Park about some alleged trash talking that took place on a recent episode of Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show and their confrontation ended after Ortega open hand slapped Park.
MirccMMA captured video of security escorting Ortega out of the arena after the incident took place:
Brian Ortega getting escorted after trying to start a fight with Zombie pic.twitter.com/21FmOsZB8E
— /\/\ (@MirccMMA) March 8, 2020
UFC President Dana White was asked about the situation after the event and he called the whole scenario “weird.”
“(Ortega) and the ‘Zombie’ got into a fight, which is completely unlike both of their personalities,” White said (via Simon Samano & Nolan King of MMA Junkie). “‘Zombie’ doesn’t even speak English, so I don’t know what the hell he could’ve said that would get Ortega to start going crazy. But, yeah, it was weird.”
Although White states that Ortega and Jung got into an altercation, it appears through the actual altercation did take place between Ortega and Park, as Jung was reportedly in the bathroom when the whole thing went down.
White also says that he doesn’t expect any legal action to be taken against Ortega after the physical altercation.
“Listen, we don’t want that,” White said. “We don’t want anyone getting arrested.”
Jung and Ortega were originally set to meet late last year in the main event of UFC Fight Night Busan, but Ortega was injured and replaced by former UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar.
