MMA Fighter of the Week: Brian Ortega

MMA Fighter of the Week: Brian Ortega

By Dan McConnell

The action this weekend in the MMA world came from Bellator and the UFC. Both headline fights saw fights in the respective promotions featherweight divisions.

Cris Cyborg successfully defended her Bellator featherweight title for the first time, while Brian Ortega took out Chang Sung Jung in a UFC featherweight title eliminator.

Ortega was returning to action for the first time in two years, after suffering that one-sided loss to former champion Max Holloway back in December 2018.

His opponent for the return fight, the ever game Chan Sung Jung nicknamed The Korean Zombie’.

A tough weight cut forced ‘T-City’ to shave his head just to make the 145-pound limit. This showed a different animal inside Ortega, a re-born fighter who is willing to do whatever it takes.

We know Ortega for being a Jiu-Jitsu wizard, but that wasn’t needed this time out as he used his newly developed striking to effect.

A lovely spinning back elbow in the second round, showed a more technical side to Brian Ortega than in his previous UFC contests.

He had his way on the feet for all five rounds, dropping and cutting Jung in a 25-minute dominant performance.

The 29-year old reinforced the saying that ring rust doesn’t apply to all fighters and took his record to 15-1.

Many questioned if Ortega would be worthy of a title eliminator just one fight removed of a shot at gold, but this version 2.0 of Ortega made his case.