Ortega went through a two year struggle to make it back into the cage on Saturday night. He credits his strong comeback to finding God.
No one knew what to expect from Brian Ortega coming into UFC Mexico City. “T-City” had been out of the cage for two years due to injuries and surgeries. He was frank about the questions he was asking himself about his future in the sport, and the depression he’d fought through.
How would it all affect him in a fight with the very dangerous Yair Rodriguez?
In the end, Ortega came back from a very rough round one to submit Rodriguez in the third (watch the highlights here). The perseverance he showed in life came in handy in the cage. He overcame those early difficulties to emerge victorious. It was a beautiful thing to witness, and he discussed his emotional journey in an interview with Full Send MMA.
“I’ll be honest with you right here, it’s been rough,” he said. “I lost one of my best friends, I lost two friends after that. I got betrayed by people that were close to me. I had 4 surgeries back to back. It’s just a lot of things in my personal life, and it looked dark.”
“I know a lot of people think its cheesy but when I went to church, I found god, and a year ago I was a broken man. And now today I’m married, I got my kids with me, God gave me my family back. And look at us, we’re doing good.”
“I probably hit every brick wall you can imagine,” he admitted. “Like, I’ve messed up my life so much. But we’re still here, man.
“I spent months alone, man,” Ortega said. “Months alone. I didn’t answer the door, no one came to see me. I was by myself, bro. And it wasn’t like a ‘Boo-hoo me,’ it was more like … I’m working on myself.”
“I had to quit some things that I thought I was never going to quit, I had to change my life in a way that I didn’t want to,” he continued. “I didn’t want to, but I know that if I want a better life and I want to really continue and grow and succeed and be a real example for my kids, I got to knock it off. So I went to war with myself, and here we are, look.”
With this win, Ortega stands on the verge of a potential featherweight title shot against new champ Ilia Topuria. The division is wide open, and “T-City” could definitely get the call depending on how things come together with other 145 pound contenders over the coming months.
You love to see it.