Brian Ortega Wants To ‘Run That S–t Back’ With Holloway After Title Win

Brian OrtegaWith a title fight at UFC 266 looming, Brian Ortega already knows who he wants his first title defense to be against. Ortega meets Alexander Volkanovski in the main event of UFC 266 for the featherweight championship. He does show on the back of an impressive performance against longtime contender Chan Sung Jung. However, in […]

Brian Ortega

With a title fight at UFC 266 looming, Brian Ortega already knows who he wants his first title defense to be against.

Ortega meets Alexander Volkanovski in the main event of UFC 266 for the featherweight championship. He does show on the back of an impressive performance against longtime contender Chan Sung Jung. However, in his fight prior to that, he hit a major roadblock in his first title opportunity opposite Max Holloway.

Holloway pieced up Ortega for the duration of the fight, landing 290 significant strikes before the bout was mercifully called to a halt between the fourth and fifth rounds. Ortega showed off a significantly improved stand-up game against ‘The Korean Zombie’, and he told TMZ Sports he believes that – combined with his incredible ground game – will be enough to pick up the victory over Volkanovski (h/t MMA Fighting).

“I see the game, I play the game,” Ortega said. “I’m climbing this technical mountain, to speak. These guys are already there. They’re far beyond me, I admit that, like some technical s–t. But when I get in there, I’m different. There’s some things you can’t teach through technique. On the spot, on the go, when I’m in your face, when I touch you, when I hit you, I make you feel different things. That’s always been my advantage, and now that I’m adding technique to it, I’m climbing, I’m climbing, I’m climbing, I’m learning. I’m only getting more dangerous.”

The loss to Holloway still stands as the only one in Ortega’s career, and he hopes that once he wrestles the belt away from Volkanoski, he will have the chance to redeem that blemish.

“That would be ideal,” Ortega said. “I’m not trying to speak ahead or get past Volkanovski because he beat Max twice, so I’m not here to already start celebrating but that would be ideal. I’m a better person, better fighter than I was when I fought him and watching his last fight, so is he. You always want that. As a fighter, as a competitor, you always want to make that s–t square or to say, ‘Yo dog, you know what? You legit got the best of me. Good s–t.”

While Ortega has certainly improved his striking game since their first meeting in 2018, it can be argued that so too has Holloway. The 290 significant strikes he landed against Ortega was a UFC record, but he since shattered his own watermark by landing 445 against Calvin Kattar. Still, Ortega is willing to see who has really improve the most since their first meeting, and it doesn’t matter to him how many times it takes to get that one back.

“I’m competitive,” Ortega said. “I want to make s–t even. It does bother me. You go in there and you go, ‘F–k!’ I look at my record and I go, ‘F–k, that one belongs to him. Oh you motherf–ker! Good s–t.’ I’m not a hater either. I’m not a hater so I’m like good s–t but I’m from the hood, let’s run that s–t back. (Laughs). Let’s run it back. Let’s always run it back. Let’s f–king get down. Even if he f–ks me up again, I’ll fight you 100 times. I’m gonna get one.”

Do you think Brian Ortega is overlooking Alexander Volkanovski? Who wins the rematch between him and Holloway?

Alternate Fighter For Max Holloway vs. Brian Ortega Misses Weight

The alternate fighter that was supposed to be the backup plans should the main event of Max Holloway vs. Brian Ortega not take place has missed weight. Just last month, it was revealed that ising featherweight prospect Renato Moicano would be the backup fighter in case one of these stars missed weight. Holloway is slated […]

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The alternate fighter that was supposed to be the backup plans should the main event of Max Holloway vs. Brian Ortega not take place has missed weight. Just last month, it was revealed that ising featherweight prospect Renato Moicano would be the backup fighter in case one of these stars missed weight.

Holloway is slated to defend his UFC featherweight title against Orega in the headliner of the UFC 231 pay-per-view event. Holloway has had issues making it to the cage as of late. It all started when he was originally set to challenge for the lightweight title at UFC 223 in April. Then, Holloway was removed from his initially scheduled fight with Ortega at UFC 226 due to concussion-like symptoms.

UFC officials held the weigh-ins for this event on Friday morning and Moicano missed weight. Keep in mind that his only job this week was to make weight and he would be paid for his efforts. He weighed in at 146 pounds, which is over the championship limit.

This is where it could’ve been interesting. He won’t attempt to cut the extra pound. So hypothetically if he had to step into the main event, Moicano would not be eligible to win the title. Also, Moicano was cleared by a doctor to continue cutting weight. But with the main event fighters making weight, he decided to call it at 146 lbs.

The Brazilian was initially set to compete on the card against Mirsad Bektic but Bektic was forced to withdraw from the fight. It led to him being left without an opponent and the promotion made the call to put him in this spot.

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Max Holloway Downplays Brian Ortega Being His Hardest Fight

Max Holloway downplays the idea that his next fight against title contender Brian Ortega will be his hardest thus far in his career.

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Max Holloway downplays the idea that his next fight will be his hardest as he prepares to make his next title defense in early December.

The UFC featherweight champ is slated to headline the upcoming UFC 231 pay-per-view event against Brian Ortega. Once this fight got booked, the early betting odds had Holloway listed as a slim -130 favorite and Ortega at +110.

As a result, this led to fans thinking that this will be a close fight and have a difficult time predicting a winner. It turns out Holloway has a different mindset. In fact, he thinks that his gameplan will make his performance look easy.

“I’m going to go out there and do what I do best,” Holloway told MMAjunkie. “I’m going to open the door for you. Whenever you’re ready, grab your hand and walk you through it. Thank you, come again. People keep saying this is going to be one of my hardest fights. I’m going to go out there and make people like, ‘What was that?’ That’s my game plan.”

Ready For Any Challenger

The UFC 231 pay-per-view is set to take place on Saturday, December 8, 2018 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The UFC featherweight champion continued by stating that he’s willing to fight anyone, which is a good mindset to have. This is due to to the fact that Renato Moicano will be on standby to fill in for the main event.

“I would take him on three hours’ notice,” Holloway said. “I’ll take you on an hour’s notice. I don’t care. Everyone was like, ‘The Khabib (Nurmagomedov) fight, you’re crazy for taking this on a weeks’ notice.’ Look, they’re taking the fight with me. You’re taking a fight with me. I don’t care who it is. Whoever. They’ve got to remember who they’re fighting. Who they’re fighting against. That’s me.”

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Max Holloway Confident He’ll Make It to UFC 231

Max Holloway confident that he’ll be able to make it and fight against Brian Ortega at UFC 231.

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Max Holloway confident that he’ll be able to not only make it to his next fight but also compete at the UFC 231 pay-per-view event. Holloway is slated to defend his title against top contender Brian Ortega in the headliner of this show.

Back in July, Holloway was set to make his next title defense against the top contender in the co-main event of the UFC 226 pay-per-view event. Obviously, that didn’t happen as Holloway was forced to pull out of the fight. The reason for it was due to him experiencing concussion-like symptoms.

“We’ve got an ongoing investigation, so I’ve been told not to comment on everything yet,” Holloway said in an ESPN interview this week. “The UFC and Toronto commission has my medicals and said we’re good to go, so I ain’t worried about it. People are going to ask and be concerned, and I love people for that.”

The UFC 231 pay-per-view is set to take place on Saturday, December 8, 2018 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The UFC featherweight champion continued by stating that no one should worry about his status for this event. Instead, just like him, they should look forward to fight week.

“We’re going to make it, man,” Holloway assured. “No ‘knock on wood’ or anything like that. I’m blessed. Things have been unfortunate this year, but I’m in a good place right now. I can’t put into words the energy we have, everything is great. I can’t wait for fight week. It’s been way too long.”

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Max Holloway To Be Stripped Of Title If He Doesn’t Fight At UFC 231

Holloway must defend his title at this show or he’ll be forced to vacant.

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Brian Ortega claims that UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway will be stripped of the title by the promotion should he not make his next title defense. According to the title contender, the UFC is not messing around with this bout. Thus, they are going to great lengths in order to make sure that he’ll happen.

Back in July, Holloway was set to make his next title defense against the top contender in the co-main event of the UFC 226 pay-per-view event. Obviously, that didn’t happen as Holloway was forced to pull out of the fight. The reason for it was due to him experiencing concussion-like symptoms.

This is an interesting move by the UFC considering that Holloway doesn’t have a bad track record of pulling out of fights. In fact, he attempted to save the UFC 223 pay-per-view event by fighting in the main event but that wasn’t meant to be.

Max Holloway To Be Stripped

Ortega made this news during a recent interview with MMAJunkie and noted that he’s extremely focused on this fight.

“I’m laser-focused on the belt at this point,” Ortega on Friday told MMAjunkie Radio. “Now, with this fight happening, we have it where if Max shows up or doesn’t show up. I’m going to have a fight for the featherweight (title) no matter what.”

Breaking The News

The title contender mentioned that this is the first time that he made the news official. Ortega will fight for the title at this show whether Holloway or someone else is his opponent.

“This is the first time I’m letting it out right now,” he said. “Yeah, it’s in the contract. Everything is done. I will fight for the featherweight belt with or without him.”

Staying True

The UFC 231 pay-per-view is set to take place on Saturday, December 8, 2018, at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Ortega continued by stating, “There’s no more of me letting the fans down. If he pulls out on one days’ notice, three hours’ notice, it doesn’t matter. I’m going to show up and it’s going to be for the featherweight belt and it’s going to be main event. Dec. 8, that’s the goal. UFC 231. Toronto.”

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Max Holloway vs. Brian Ortega Officially Set For UFC 231

Max Holloway vs. Brian Ortega is going to happen as the promotion is going in this direction after making the fight announcement official. Max Holloway vs. Brian Ortega This fight was originally reported back in August but the Las Vegas-based promotion had yet to make the fight official until now. It’s slated to headline the […]

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Max Holloway vs. Brian Ortega is going to happen as the promotion is going in this direction after making the fight announcement official.

Max Holloway vs. Brian Ortega

This fight was originally reported back in August but the Las Vegas-based promotion had yet to make the fight official until now. It’s slated to headline the upcoming UFC 231 pay-per-view event.

Holloway was set to make his next title defense against the top contender in the co-main event of the UFC 226 pay-per-view event. That show went down in July at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. However, Holloway was forced to pull out of the fight after he had been experiencing concussion-like symptoms. A stroke had been reported with what he was dealing with during UFC 226 fight week but that has been denied by his management.

Ortega earned this title shot after he beat former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar at the UFC 222 pay-per-view He is unbeaten in his MMA career as he holds wins over the likes of Edgar, Cub Swanson, Renato Moicano, and Clay Guida.

Also announced for this show is Jimi Manuwa vs. Thiago “Marreta” Santos as well as Eryk Anders vs. Elias Theodorou.

Event

The UFC 231 pay-per-view is set to take place on Saturday, December 8, 2018 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The main card will air on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET while the preliminary card will air on FOX Sports 1 at 8 p.m. ET and the promotion’s streaming service, UFC Fight Pass. The promotion will announce more bouts for this upcoming card in the coming weeks.

The Card

Champ Max Holloway vs. Brian Ortega – for featherweight title
Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Valentina Shevchenko – for vacant women’s flyweight title
Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. Gilbert Burns
Chad Laprise vs. Dhiego Lima
Kyle Bochniak vs. Hakeem Dawodu
Devin Clark vs. Aleksandar Rakic
Nina Ansaroff vs. Claudia Gadelha
Brad Katona vs. Matthew Lopez
Jimi Manuwa vs. Thiago “Marreta” Santos
Eryk Anders vs. Elias Theodorou

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