Tag: Brian Ortega

The Featherweight title looks to be planned for contention early next year with all signs pointing to the champion Alexander Volkanovski defending for a second time against former title challenger Brian Ortega in February.

During an interview with BT Sport, UFC president Dana White shared with reporter Caroline Pearce that the Featherweight title will “Probably” be on the line in February.

Since his return in October, it has been rumored that Ortega would face off against the champ after a dominant shut out five-round victory over the Korean Zombie.

After a failed title bid against Max Holloway in 2018, Ortega took an extended hiatus from the sport which saw many question how he would appear in his return, however, those concerns were unnecessary as Ortega looked to be in the best shape of his career easily defeating Zombie to set himself up for another title shot.

Volkanvoski claimed the title in December of 2019 defeating Max Holloway by decision at UFC 245. Due to the matchup being close the pair ran it back in July at UFC 251. The result of this contest was the same with Volkanovski once again emerging victorious.

Following this many thought that the pair may be scheduled a third time as both fights were reasonably close, as well as the second being a widely controversial decision, however, Holloway has since been scheduled to fight rising Featherweight contender Kelvin Kattar in January.

Volkanovski, however, was vocal that he wanted a new opponent as to not hold up the divsion and allow the up and coming contenders to move through the rankings.

Both athletes have shared interest in the bout and with the UFC hoping to get it finalized for February fans can expect some movement in the stacked Featherweight division in the beginning of 2021.

Are you excited for this Featherweight title fight?

It looks like we could see Alexander Volkanovski vs. Brian Ortega early next year.

Ortega is seemingly next in line for a featherweight title shot following his impressive unanimous decision victory over The Korean Zombie earlier this month.

Although nothing is confirmed, it was virtually guaranteed by UFC president Dana White as well as Volkanovski who was happy to finally see some direction in the featherweight division.

The only question now is when it could happen.

Ortega didn’t suffer any major injuries against Korean Zombie while Volkanovski last competed in July when he outpointed Max Holloway to retain his 145-pound strap.

Volkanovski later posted that February sounded good to him and that seems to be the case with Ortega too who called it a hell of a fight.

“That’s a hell of a fight (against Volkanovski),” Ortega said on UFC Unfiltered (via BJ Penn). “He said February. From what I’ve seen on the Internet, Volkanovski said he’ll be ready in February.

“So we’ll see what happens, exactly right. We’ll see when he talks to Dana (White) or whoever he talks to and we’ll see what date comes up, or where and when, that’s the big question.”

Perhaps UFC 258 will play host to what would be Volkanovski’s attempt at a second title defense.

Who do you have winning in a fight between Volkanovski and Ortega?