Most of the time, when two fighters who are going to face each other do an interview together, things can get heated pretty quickly. This was seen recently, when Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega got into a firey exchange during an interview with SportsCenter.
Volkanovski was expected to defend his featherweight title against Ortega several months ago, but was forced out with covid. Rather than just immediately reschedule the fight, the UFC decided to have them coach the comeback season of the Ultimate Fighter, after other fighters would not agree.
When initially scheduled, there was no real animosity between these two, but that has changed with them spending so much time together. In fact, speaking in a recent interview, the champ explained that coaching TUF with T-City made him realize how much he did not like his upcoming opponent
“I’ll put it this way, it’s not the same as it was the first time we were going to fight. Things do change, especially being in the presence of each other, especially when you’ve been competing against each other. Obviously we’re going to have jabs at each other and say certain things to get each other fired up,” Volkanovski said.
Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega Go Back and Forth
Following that little spat, the interview with Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega continued, but it was clear that the champ was feeling aggressive. The Kiwi fighter made it clear that the fact that Brian regularly shows up late and was talking smack when his team was performing well early on, really got under Alexander’s skin.
This became obvious when the interview was about to end, but the champ decided to drag it out just a little longer, by firing some shots at his UFC 266 opponent. This led to the two bickering back and forth, taking personal digs at one another.
“It’s hard to feed off someone who has weak energy,” Ortega said.
“Weak energy? Are you serious? You stand there looking at the camera, just trying to look pretty. We barely get a word out of you. You’re trying to play it all friendly, like we’re best mates when you’re sitting there in front of a camera, thinking you’re the man,” Volkanovski retorted.
“Look, it’s not my fault you’re ugly. C’mon dawg, relax. You even shaved your head to look (good) but you still don’t. You look like s—t. C’mon, relax,” Ortega fired back.
“Good looks will only get you so far mate. Once we get in that Octagon I’ll punch that prettiness out your face, don’t you worry about that. I don’t need to look pretty, I’m a fighter,” Volkanovski said.
Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega spend about three minutes trading barbs with each other, showing that there is far more animosity this time around, than when they were first slated to fight. They will have the opportunity to settle the score in the Octagon, at UFC 266, on September 25th.
