Athletes
Brian Ortega Is Always Within Striking Distance
Looking To Remain In And Around The Title Picture, Brian Ortega Wants To Put His Best Foot Forward Against Aljamain Sterling At UFC Fight Night: Walker vs Zhang
Generally, it’s a bad idea to count out Brian Ortega.
Over the last 11 years in the promotion, “T-City” has shown off his penchant for the comeback effort. As he climbed up the featherweight ranks, the Los Angeles native routinely seized the momentum out of nowhere to score highlight finishes against the likes of Diego Brandão and Clay Guida. It’s how he quickly ascended to fan-favorite and contender status, both of which were stamped when he finished Cub Swanson and Frankie Edgar in a three-month span.
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Since then, though, Ortega has alternated between states of tapping into his full potential and struggling with injury-induced inconsistency. Since knocking out Edgar in March 2018, he has fought a total of six times, collecting a 2-4 record in that time. To be fair, two of those losses were to Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski in Fight of the Night title bids, and another loss occurred when he dislocated his shoulder against Yair Rodriguez (who he would beat in a rematch), so the results are a little deceiving.
When he is on, though, he looks every bit the part of a future champion, such as in his wins over The Korean Zombie and Rodriguez, the latter of which earned him his eighth performance bonus. He wasn’t able to capitalize on his win over Rodriguez, however, as weight-cutting issues took him out of his booking with Diego Lopes last summer before dropping a decision to Lopes at UFC 306. That’s the rub with Ortega, but, at 34, he remains in and around a rather open featherweight title picture as he approaches a co-main event assignment against Aljamain Sterling at UFC Fight Night: Walker vs Zhang.
T-City collecting names to his resume 😤@BrianTCity returns to the Octagon on Saturday morning 👀
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“I’m always, for the last decade, been one to two fights away from the title,” he said. “It’s always been my place. Big fights, big names, and one to two fights away from always fighting for gold.”
Since losing to Lopes, Ortega spent the last 11 months “regrouping” and dedicated some time to retooling his striking ever so subtly.
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Don’t expect a wholesale change from Ortega. He is proudly allergic to a boring fight, but as he enters a different stage of his career, self-awareness is crucial.
“(I’m) just paying attention to where your flaws are at, to be honest with yourself, being able to tell yourself, ‘Hey, man. I’m messing up right there,’ or ‘I haven’t been paying that much attention to this department,’ and going back to that and sharpening it up,” he said. “Doing that has been my life since I was doing this at 14 years old.”
In Sterling, he faces a former champion trying to make headway in a new division. The former bantamweight king moved up 10 pounds following his loss to Sean O’Malley and split his first two fights in the division.
Full Fight | Brian Ortega vs Yair Rodriguez 2
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Full Fight | Brian Ortega vs Yair Rodriguez 2
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Sterling looked like his suffocating self against Calvin Kattar, blanketing the standup-inclined fighter on his way to a decision win. His second assignment came against the undefeated Movsar Evloev, and while the scrambles fascinated anyone with knowledge of that aspect of mixed martial arts, he wasn’t able to hand the Russian his first professional loss. Ortega isn’t particularly sure which Sterling he is going to get on August 23. His jiu jitsu pedigree suggests Sterling might have to stray from his wrestling-heavy attack, but either way, Ortega feels ready to deliver something worth watching for the fans.
“Besides the Khamzat fight, the grappling fights haven’t really been as exciting as they used to be,” Ortega said. “People don’t even really like to cater to that department anymore, so his skill is being a grappler, and a lot of people would say it’s boring, but I feel like I bring the other side of the entertainment where I can spark that s*** up.”
RELATED: Dive Deeper Into The Matchup Between Ortega And Sterling
Although Volkanovski regained his throne earlier this year, the featherweight picture is distinctly different than it was when Ortega last fought for gold. Instead of Hall of Fame-bound mainstays like Holloway, Edgar and Zombie, newer faces like Lerone Murphy, Jean Silva and Evloev are trying to carve out their own legacies.
Ortega is keen on not getting lost in the mix, and beating a former champion is always a great way to do just that. He might not get a title shot with a win over Sterling, but he’ll put himself in a familiar place and, for Ortega, that’s all he needs — a window of opportunity to make something special happen.
“We have a lot of new people, some are undefeated, some are on great winning streaks, some keep climbing up the ladder in impressive ways, some are hungry and keep fighting more than usual,” he said. “The cards are getting stacked in the featherweight division, and it’s going to be a good time for it.”
UFC Fight Night: Walker vs Zhang took place live from Shanghai Indoor Stadium in Shanghai, China on August 23, 2025. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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