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Brian Ortega Trusts Wisdom Gained Through Adversity
Former Title Challenger Brian Ortega Believes The Lessons Learned Over The Course Of His 10-Year UFC Tenure
Brian Ortega gave himself a week to mope about falling out of his matchup with Diego Lopes at UFC 303 before getting back to work. To be fair to “T-City,” you can’t do anything about your body betraying you, and, unfortunately, that’s a spot Ortega has known well throughout his career. This time, a short notice call to drop back down to featherweight when he was preparing to fight at lightweight was too much for his body to handle, and the fight fell apart.
Lopes went on to compete in a catchweight bout with Dan Ige in one of the craziest turn of events in recent memory and took home a decision victory over the Hawaiian. While it was a sour situation for Ortega, it did set up a more meaningful matchup. Lopes now had a Top 10 win to his name. Instead of facing a hot and hungry prospect on the rise for the sake of saving a card, Ortega now has a Top 10 opponent in his sights.
Order UFC 306: O'Malley vs Dvalishvili
“The way (Lopes) approaches things, it's very admirable,” Ortega said during his interview with UFC.com in July. “To be able to step in on short-notice, last-minute, like four hours—just everything that he had to go through, he earned my respect. Not that it wasn't there before, but I had more of admirable attitude towards what he's done and what he's doing.”
Despite the mishap in June, Ortega can’t help but see how things worked out well for him. He and Lopes now are set to fight at UFC 306: O’Malley vs Dvalisvhili, UFC’s second “Noche” event celebrating Mexican Independence Day and the first sporting event to take place at Sphere.
Ortega, a proud Mexican-American, called the unique event a box to check off his list that he “never even knew was a box” for. The laid-back featherweight couldn’t help but crack smiles when recounting the preview of the visuals he saw and joked that he’ll need to make sure he is staying focused on the task at hand once he makes the walk.
UFC 306 FULL FIGHTS: Lopes vs Ige | O'Malley vs Vera 2
It’s all part of the game for the 33-year-old. July marked 10 years in the promotion, and he experienced all the highs and lows of the fight game during that decade. First came his firework-filled ascent up the rankings as an undefeated star on the rise. Then came a four-year stretch that included injuries that kept him to just one win in four total fights, although two of those bouts were for the featherweight title.
Best Finishes | Brian Ortega
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Best Finishes | Brian Ortega
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Following another injury-induced layoff, Ortega returned to face Yair Rodriguez and settle unfinished business in Mexico City. Things nearly fell apart for Ortega as he appeared to roll his ankle moments before the fight started, but instead, he turned in a vintage performance and earned his first finish since March 2018. Ortega believes that fight brought him “personal redemption” and pushed him to find “a little more peace” in his life.
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“(Experience) just carries wisdom,” Ortega said. "When you're in there, you carry it with you every fight. You have to go through adversities. You have to go through some troubled times. Like in the last (fight), I rolled the ankle. Now, it's a thing, right? You just have to overcome it, but you also gain wisdom from it.”
He believes those experiences will give him that intangible edge over Lopes, who is four years his junior and just now entering his second year in the promotion. The acquired knowledge and poise also kept Ortega from getting too caught up in how he fits into the featherweight title picture. The talk of him moving up to lightweight, according to Ortega, was born more from a lack of logical fights at 145. Now, he has one, and while a win might not earn him a shot at whoever walks away with the title when Ilia Topuria faces Max Holloway at UFC 308, it puts him right back into the mix.
But one of the lessons learned over time is not getting too far ahead of oneself. For now, Ortega is focused on beating the man in front of him and delivering another thrilling performance to go along with a career full of them. The occasion makes it all the sweeter, and he intends to give people—his people—plenty to cheer about on September 14.
READ: New Fighter Kits Launched For UFC 306
“You already know it's going to be crazy,” he said. “Just the fact that the fights are at Sphere, that's one thing. And then you add Mexican Independence Day, which I wasn't here (last year), but from what I heard, it went off. It was crazy. The crowd, the energy was wild.
“Hopefully, that can be duplicated this year.”
UFC 306: O'Malley vs Dvalishvili took place live from Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 14, 2024. 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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