Brian Ortega will 'ruin every contender' if Ilia Topuria becomes champion at UFC 298
Brian Ortega is happy to take out all the top contenders if Ilia Topuria isn’t willing to.
Topuria (14-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) challenges featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski (26-3 MMA, 13-2 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 298 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) headliner at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
Topuria said if he becomes champion, he won’t give Ortega, Max Holloway or Yair Rodriguez a title shot. Ortega (15-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC), who rematches Rodriguez in a UFC Fight Night co-headliner Feb. 24 in Mexico City, plans on ensuring that Topuria has no one else to fight if that’s the case.
“You have to win the belt for that to happen, that was my first thought,” Ortega told CBS Sports. “Let’s say you do win the belt and you’re not going to give us a shot. Then I’m going to make sure I ruin every contender – simple as that. One, you have to win it. Two, I’m going to take all the contenders away from you. … If you don’t want to fight us, then I’m going to take all your people.”
Ortega can relate to Topuria’s current state. “T-City” also was an undefeated rising contender who was taking fighters out en route to his first title shot. He had a gutsy performance, but largely was dominated in a title loss to then-champion Holloway, and also has challenged Volkanovski for the title.
He fell short on both title opportunities, and thinks Topuria will be facing a different level against Volkanovski.