Brian Ortega is ready to cause some chaos within the 145-pound ranks.

It’s been a tough couple of years for Ortega since his rise through the featherweight division as an undefeated 14-0 superstar. The 32-year-old submission wizard has gone 1-3 in his four fights that have followed his first title shot against Max Holloway in December 2018.

Ortega last fought in July 2022 when he suffered a shoulder injury in round one of his UFC Long Island main event vs. Yair Rodriguez. Therefore, the result was a TKO loss on “T-City’s” record and he will seek redemption in a rematch at UFC Mexico City next weekend. This Saturday, however, the division’s crown is on the line between champion Alexander Volkanovski and challenger Ilia Topuria. The latter has already said he won’t be giving any past title challengers like Ortega a future title shot as long as he holds gold.

“You have to win the belt for that to happen. That was my first thought,” Ortega told CBS Sports when he heard Topuria’s comments. “Let’s say you do win and you’re not going to give us a shot, then I’m going to make sure to ruin every contender. Simple as that. One, you have to win it. Two, I’m going to take all the contenders away from you. If you don’t want to fight us then I’m going to take all your people.”

The first Rodriguez fight is the only non-title fight he’s lost and it was under uniquely unfortunate circumstances, so Ortega has proven to be capable of his goal when active. Losses to all-time greats Max Holloway and Volkanovski are nothing to be ashamed of.

In Ortega’s Holloway title tilt, it was a similar position to Topuria who is also 14-0 ahead of his first title fight. There are still plenty of questions out on the European finisher, Ortega has his own, but comparing the situations, he leans towards the defending champion.

“There’s always the question of, ‘Is he ready or is he not?’ Skillfully he’s looked good against the people he’s faced,” Ortega said. “He’s technically sound. He’s the full package when it comes to striking, wrestling, jiu-jitsu. You can’t look at him and say he has one full weakness that’s exploitable. But I do believe that guys such as ‘Volk’ have a different type of level of chess.

“That’s why these fights are amazing to watch. You have someone confident, someone who is ready as if he’s already the champ and defended it three times. And then you have the guy who has been at the top of the mountain and is kicking everyone down. It’s a good fight. A lot of questions will be answered after this weekend but it’s hard to go against ‘Volk.’”

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VIDEO STEW

The MMA Hour.

UFC 298 Media Day.

Embedded 3.

Dvalishvili vs. Cejudo preview.

History of undefeated UFC title challengers.

Biaggio’s first pro-fight camp.

CCC Road to Redemption.

Mokaev at Bangtao.

LISTEN UP

No Bets Barred. MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew and Conner Burks discuss if Ilia Topuria is the man to finally dethrone Alexander Volkanovski.

MORNING MUSIC

SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Nice.

Love in the air.

Cruz-Love

Variety is the spice of life.

Cali in February.

GSP <3

Media day.

FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

James Llontop (14-2) vs. Gabe Green (11-5); UFC Fight Night, April 27

FINAL THOUGHTS

Fair plan on Ortega’s part. He’ll just have to bump up those activity numbers for that to be applicable.

Thanks for reading!

EXIT POLL

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