"Brian Ortega moment" - Fans react to Chris Barnett seemingly injuring his leg during Bruce Buffer's introduction

Chris Barnett's heavyweight outing at UFC 308 was disastrous. In fact, things got off to a poor start prior to the bout even officially beginning. During the introductory phase, Barnett was either warming up or hyping himself up by jumping up and down, stomping hard.

However, as Bruce Buffer introduced him, the dynamic heavyweight striker appeared to injure his leg. A clip of the moment has made its way on to X, where it has drawn the attention of the MMA world. While there's no official news of an injury, it's possible Barnett compromised himself.

Check out Chris Barnett possibly injuring himself:

One fan poked fun at the moment by comparing it to when Brian Ortega injured his ankle during the introductory phase in his rematch with Yair Rodriguez, doing the same thing, no less.

"Brian Ortega moment"

Others remarked on how painful the stunt looked, especially on the knees.

"My knees hurt just watching this"

Some even mockingly compared him to the injury-prone Kevin Lee, whose knees have famously crumbled on various occasions.

"Channeling his inner Kevin Lee."

However, most of the comparisons were to Ortega.

"Brian Ortega'd"

A collage of fan reactions can be seen below:

Fan reactions to Chris Barnett's injury

That wasn't the end of Barnett's troubles, as he went on to get TKO'd by his foe, Kennedy Nzechukwu within four minutes of round one. It marked the latest loss in an inconsistent run of form for the Taekwondo black belt, who is stuck on a win-loss pattern with no seeming end in sight.

The hype surrounding him is largely due to the spinning heel kick with which he knocked out Gian Villante back at UFC 268. Now, he will have to head back to the drawing board and retool his approach for more consistency, lest he remain a heavyweight without much to offer the UFC.