Brian Ortega has weighed in on the featherweight title picture, as the feud between champion Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway continues.
Brian Ortega returned from a shoulder injury in his last fight – an injury that saw him out of action for almost two years – submitting Yair Rodriguez in the third round of their rematch.
Despite being 1-2 in his last three fights, ‘T-City’ still sits at rank three in the featherweight division, with only former champions Alexander Volkanovski and the aforementioned Max Holloway above him.
Ilia Topuria threatens to give the next title shot to Ortega
Following Max Holloway’s sensational knockout of Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 last weekend, ‘Blessed’ called for a featherweight title fight against Ilia Topuria.
However, the 27-year-old champion responded with stipulations, claiming that he’ll only fight against the Hawaiian next if Holloway puts his ‘BMF’ title on the line, and if he didn’t ‘oblige’, that he’d give the title shot to Brian Ortega.
The feud then continued with Holloway responding, that Topuria’s stipulations aren’t very ‘BMF’ like.
Since then, the 33-year-old Ortega has weighed in stating that he wants the title shot and that he has asked his management to figure out his next fight.
Brian Ortega calls for a featherweight title fight in Spain
“I talked to my manager today and said, ‘Hey what’s up, what’s going on’, because I’m training my ass off. I’m happy that I didn’t have to get surgery or wasn’t severely injured after my last fight, so I went right back to work and I’m still working.” Ortega told Kanpai Media.
Fortunately, Ortega came out of his February fight against Rodriguez, relatively unscathed, meaning he is able to look ahead at his possible next fight.
After Topuria made it clear he wants his first title defense to be in Spain, Ortega admitted he likes the idea and wants to be the one to challenge ‘El Matador’ in his home country.
“Let’s get a fight in Spain, let’s go. If I could snap my fingers and get the contract and he says yes and (Alexander) Volkanovski doesn’t take that fight because I know he’s waiting there, he’s in line. If he says no instead of them trying to rush him to fight, the UFC’s got a man right here.” Ortega added.
Despite Topuria’s desire to defend his title in Spain next, it is looking increasingly unlikely that the UFC will exploit that market this year, with Dana White admitting at the UFC 300 press conference recently, that they’re struggling to find arenas to host a possible event.
After his long reign over the featherweight division, the consensus amongst experts was that Alexander Volkanovski deserves an immediate rematch with Topuria. Having said that, ‘The Great’ may want to take an extended time off following back-to-back knockout losses.
‘T-City’ went on to state that a fight between himself and Topuria would be exciting and that he’s never in a boring fight. “I don’t think I’ve seen a boring fight of mine, I’m not trying to be a salesman but either I finish you or you finish me.”
Whoever the UFC decides to go with next for Topuria, the 27-year-old has a few options to try and continue his unbeaten run.