Can Brian Ortega make a successful return?
A history of an unstable shoulder, and why I am concerned.
It is my opinion that Brian Ortega is at a crossroad in his career, brought on by repeated injuries to his shoulder. The UFC featherweight has had multiple shoulder surgeries, yet the issues with his right shoulder persist.
Ortega suffered a right shoulder labrum tear in 2016, which required surgical repair. Before this injury, he had the same injury to his left shoulder, and underwent surgery for that as well. Then in 2022, during his fight vs Yair Rodriguez, he dislocated his right shoulder. Ortega was again on the operating table for repair of the shoulder.
So why is Ortega at a critical point? It’s not so much the surgeries that he has had on the right shoulder. It’s the way that the injuries occurred in the first place that gives me pause.
Back in 2016, he suffered a subluxation (or possibly, an outright dislocation) of the shoulder while rolling with Ryron Gracie. Ortega was fighting off an armbar attempt, and stated “My hand got caught somewhere and then my arm came out.” Ortega’s description leads me to believe that the dislocation was a traction injury. More importantly, his shoulder was not in a position of compromise.
What do I mean by ‘a position of compromise’? In the picture above (taken from a video on the Kimura), the shoulder (yellow arrow) is being stressed, and is in a position of extreme internal rotation which presents an imminent threat of shoulder dislocation or bone fracture. This, or similar positions, is what I mean by the shoulder being in a position of extreme compromise.
Now fast forward to 2022, the fight with Yair Rodriguez. In an interview, Ortega described the shoulder injury.
“We got stuck in a situation and his body was tight and I don’t know, it just yanked. I was not in submission danger. I tried to clear the leg and my arm just popped out.”
“It just yanked.” This suggests a traction injury, and once again, there was no submission force being applied to the shoulder. The shoulder was not being forcibly compromised. Both injuries seem to have occurred as he attempted to free his arm, or adjust during grappling. One would not expect the shoulder to be injured in such a fashion on two occasions. In a nutshell, this is what concerns me about Ortega’s shoulder health.
A shoulder that can be injured in such a simple manner (simple at least as far as MMA goes) is probably going to have continued problems with stability. Persistent shoulder instability, including that which re-occurs after surgical intervention, can impair normal muscle function of the shoulder, especially the rotator cuff muscles. If Brian is experiencing this phenomenon, it only complicates the issue of shoulder instability. The muscles of the shoulder are critical to not only movement of the joint, but stability of the joint. The shoulder (or glenohumeral joint) does not have a high level of bony stability that, say the hip joint has. Without strong, normally-functioning muscles, the joint will become unstable.
I am convinced that this is what recently-retired TJ Dillashaw was experiencing leading up to his fight with Aljamain Sterling. He was having repeated episodes of shoulder instability when training for the fight, and it ultimately ended his fight with Sterling. He also had had surgical repair of his shoulder, but the instability obviously returned. (A side note: TJ’s shoulder problems were severe enough that he recently underwent shoulder joint replacement surgery.)
In summary, do I think Brian Ortega will return to fight again? Yes, and I think he will have a fight announced soon. But I have concerns about his longer term future in the sport, and it will not be a shock to me if he experiences yet more problems with his right shoulder.