Brian Ortega is in a good place heading into UFC Shanghai this weekend.
Ortega (16-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) is set to face former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling (24-5 MMA, 16-5 UFC) in a five-round co-main event at Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai, China, on Saturday. It will mark his first appearance since a decision loss to Diego Lopes at UFC 306 nearly a year ago.
Ortega — who has twice challenged for the UFC featherweight title — has dropped three of his last four fights inside the Octagon. However, the 34-year-old insists that the subtle changes he has recently made to his training environment will pay off this weekend.
"In this sport, you can't get too excited and try to get better at everything because it's just impossible, but it was getting my life better,” Ortega told MMA Junkie this week. “That's always been a thing for me. It's always just better, my life outside of the gym. So we were doing that, we were locking in that aspect, and once we locked in there, it was good. We were able to bring the people that needed to be around us and just start working. ... It's striking.
Ortega and his team have freshened things up with the addition of new coaches and training partners. After spending nearly a year working outside the spotlight, “T-City” is eager to showcase the results of his hard work in Shanghai this Saturday.
"I re-hired someone that we had – not a bad fallout, but we went our own ways and then we had a good conversation about things in the past,” Ortega explained. “We just talked it over and fixed that and patched that. The boxing coach, it was new. We gave him a shot, and I started learning again. I started learning things all over again. My striking has evolved and then talking to the wrestling coach about who should we bring in as partners. We just started bringing in high-level wrestlers, NCAA champs and stuff like that."
Throughout his 11-year UFC career, Ortega has earned a reputation as one of the most dangerous submission specialists in featherweight history. His opponent this Saturday is also considered one of the top grapplers to enter the Octagon in recent years, but Ortega says he would welcome the chance to stand and trade with “Funkmaster” if the opportunity arises.
"If it was my choice, we bang it out," Ortega said. "Simple as that. You see me, I kind of rarely shoot in. I'm not really the guy to shoot in. So, if it was up to me, we would bang it out on our feet and give the fans a hell of a fight. But something's telling me he's going to shoot in. ... He's good at keeping his distance and his range with those kicks, but yeah, it's something that we've trained for. We watch the fights, we study film.”
