Brian Ortega Settles Differences with Dana White, but Only Willing to Fight for a Title
Brian Ortega jumped the line to a featherweight title shot by taking a last-minute fight with Frankie Edgar at UFC 222, but wasn't willing to risk his shot at UFC 226 when Max Holloway dropped out of their scheduled bout.
That didn't exactly sit well with UFC president Dana White, but Ortega said recently that the two have come to terms, and all is good... as long as everyone understands that he is only willing to fight for a belt, a real belt.
Ortega said on Below The Belt with Brendan Schaub that White had offered to try and make an interim featherweight title fight at UFC 226, but that he didn't want a fake belt. He was already first in line for the undisputed title and didn't want an interim belt just to be placated.
At LFA 45 on Friday, where Ortega was a guest, he said that he'd since spoken with White again and things have settled down a bit.
“I feel a lot better now,” Ortega said on Friday. “The heartbreak was a little bit real at first and then once I started to realize the bigger picture and everything and I had to put my ego aside and put my thinking cap on in terms of business-wise. We made the right decision. Talked to Dana just the other day and everything’s good between me and him, he compensated me — we reached an agreement.”
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Ortega didn't disclose what his compensation amounted to, but he did repeat that he wants to fight for the title in his next bout.
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“Any fight for the title, that’s it. That’s all I’m looking at. I’m just looking at that gold, that belt,” Ortega said.
“Other than that, it really doesn’t matter the opponent. It doesn’t matter if you call it on one day, two days; it’s never been an issue, but the belt’s what I want and I’m going to wait for it and pray that Max gets better so we can give the fight fans the fight that you guys want to see because I know that we missed out for you guys at UFC 226, but we’ll make up for it.”
(Video courtesy of AXS TV Fights | Viewing may be limited by broadcast rights restrictions)
