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Phase 1 of the Brian Ortega experiment was an overwhelming success
There were questions about Brian Ortega ahead of the UFC Fight Island 6 card. How would he bounce back from the beatdown Max Holloway gave him in December 2018? What would he look like after such a long time out of action? How would the injuries and surgeries affect him? Would Ortega continue to rely on pulling victories out of the air in the final round after falling behind early?
Ortega answered all of those questions on Saturday night.
The former featherweight title challenger looked both physically and stylistically different during the fight. Shorn of his long hair — which he donated to charity — Ortega dominated Jung from the opening bell of the featherweight title eliminator. Surprisingly, Ortega relied on his striking for most of the fight and not his jiu-jitsu.
In the lead up to the featherweight title eliminator, Ortega said fans would see a different version of him. But, c’mon now, that’s a message that many athletes deliver after an extended time away from their sport, it’s not too often that they live up to those words. Ortega, without question, lived up to his pre-fight proclamation.
Before he faced Jung, Ortega’s striking output was not something he would have bragged about. His striking accuracy before the UFC Fight Island 6 card was 33 percent and he had a striking differential of minus 3.29 — absorbing 7.36 significant strikes per minute while landing 4.07. Going by the stats, Jung should have had little problem on the feet against Ortega. Instead, Ortega overwhelmed Jung, who never found his groove over the 25-minute battle.
By the time referee Lukasz Bosacki raised Ortega’s hand in victory, Ortega had landed a career high 127 significant strikes, which gave him a success rate of 59 percent while holding Jung to just 62 landed significant strikes. Ortega delivered a masterful performance on Saturday night.
“This is a new evolution of what I have to bring to the table,” Ortega said on the ESPN+ post-fight show. “This is barely Phase 1 though. Me and this team is brand new. This is our first date and it’s going great. We have a full game plan, a full strategy for my entire career and this was a great testament and trust for me to have on them.”
Ortega’s next opponent should be UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski. Judging by his performance against Jung, fight fans should look forward to that matchup and Phase 2 of the Brian Ortega experiment.
Below are the final fight stats from the main event of UFC Fight Island 6.