Undefeated 145-pound contender Brian Ortega, who is expected to face Max Holloway for the featherweight championship at UFC 226 on July 7 in Las Vegas. Ortega revealed that Dana White offered him Ferguson’s spot versus “The Eagle.” since that doesn’t happen, “T-City” is still interested in locking horns with undefeated Khabib, in the future.
Ortega improved his professional record to 14-0 in MMA with a shocking first-round knockout over former champion Frankie Edgar at UFC 222 in March, becoming the first man ever to stop “The Answer” and amass his sixth straight victory inside the Octagon.
Ortega discussing to MMAJunie, why a matchup with Khabib Nurmagomedov is still intrigued him as his jiu-jitsu skills certainly will give Russian a hard time:
“Not too many people present a good ground game from the bottom, they survive a little bit, and it’s kind of boring,” Ortega said. “But not too many people are attacking from the bottom, hurting with elbows. They don’t bring that kind of game because it takes a long time to develop. Whereas me, I grew up in that situation, where I was always the bottom guy, always getting beat up by these guys. So I had to adapt my game to that.”
However, Ortega’s main priority is to earn the gold against Holloway and end ‘Blessed’ era who scored consecutive TKO victories over featherweight legend Jose Aldo in 2017 and riding on a 12 fight win streak. Although moving up in the weight class, and face Khabib is certainly on Ortega’s radar.
“It’s on my radar,” he said. “I have a big fight right now, but that one, for sure, it’s on the radar. I have to be successful on July 7, and hopefully, I can make that happen after.”
UFC 226 is set to take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 7.
