‘Badass fights everyone will like’

Brian Ortega doesn’t see a ton of upside in his combat in opposition to Diego Lopes, at the least probably not sufficient to get him one other UFC title shot.

Ortega (16-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC), a two-time UFC title challenger at featherweight, returns Saturday on the primary card of UFC 306 at Sphere in Las Vegas. He takes on Lopes (25-6 MMA, 4-1 UFC), a rising star within the division who’s change into one of many hottest names within the sport. “T-Metropolis” thinks a win for Lopes will probably get him a crack on the belt, however he’s not so assured the identical is in play if he wins.

“We’ll see … we’ll see,” Ortega instructed MMA Junkie in Spanish when requested if he expects a title shot win a win on Saturday. “The UFC has its personal opinions on his rating, and I feel this combat has extra of an upside for him than for me.

“If he beats me, they’ll say he’s the subsequent massive factor and might be going for the title and all that. I’ve clearly fought for the title twice already, and I wasn’t capable of win, in order that modifications issues with the UFC.”

So why did Ortega take the combat to start with? The 2 have been scheduled to satisfy on quick discover at UFC 303 in June, however hours away from the occasion, Ortega was pressured to tug out on account of sickness. Lopes ended up combating and defeating Dan Ige on hour’s discover.

It was an enormous tease for the MMA world, and as soon as Ortega noticed the hype across the combat together with the frustration of it falling via, he purchased extra into the thought.

“For those who take a look at it like a enterprise, not, ‘Oh I simply combat in opposition to anybody,’ it doesn’t make sense on your profession,” Ortega mentioned. “You ought to be combating upwards, not downwards. This combat wasn’t in my thoughts, however we noticed what occurred: Two fighters received injured, we stepped in, and I couldn’t combat. Now, after that, the speak began, and I even started telling myself, ‘You understand what, this isn’t that dangerous of an thought now that every one of this occurred.’ I’ve been seeing the feedback and this can be a extremely popular combat everybody needs to see.

“On the finish of the day, this won’t be what’s finest for enterprise, however for this reason I received into the game – to have badass fights that everybody will like. Who doesn’t wish to combat with out the speak and all of the bullsh*t? We’re simply combating, and that’s it.”

For extra on the cardboard, go to MMA Junkie’s occasion hub for UFC 306.