Brian Ortega would welcome a fight with Ilia Topuria if he reaches his level.
Brian Ortega thinks Ilia Topuria needs to use his fighting to rise in the rankings not his mouth
Ortega would accept any challenge the UFC throws his way but believes one certain name who has been calling him out is not quite at that level yet. Number nine-ranked Topuria has been calling for a fight with Ortega. His calls have been heard but Ortega still has a little work left to do before he is ready to return to the Octagon. He spoke about this to The Schmo on YouTube.
“I got three weeks left of kind of just working through this process of these training scenarios and things that I’m doing right now. Three weeks to a month is what they finally are giving me to say hey man, you can finally just train full blast,” he said. “I see people like Topuria calling me out you know constantly. I see it and two things come to mind, one, I never back out of any fight. I fought the best of the best, I fought the people that you wish that you can fight. Two is I’m not even able to fight, so let me get back on my on my sh-t.”
Ortega is not one to back down from any fight but he wants to fight against people who are ranked close to him. If Topuria could win his next fight and rises in the rankings perhaps this might be a bout that interests Ortega. However, he feels that rising up the ranking should be done with fists, not with mouths.
“I’ll gladly humble someone if I have to,” he said. “Once they’re on their way up to where I’m at then you can come join me but you can’t use your mouth to come up here. This is the fighting world you can only do so much with mouth, you know and this time you’re gonna have to fight so I know he has a fight lined up good for him and after if he earns his way up let’s do it.”
Ortega is a fan-favorite fighter who has been on the cusp of a UFC title a couple of times. Once he is fully recovered he plans on returning to his true form and could be in line for a title very soon. If Rodriguez should beat Volkanovski when they fight that would be a bout that is of interest to Ortega, considering how the last meeting between them ended.
