Brian Ortega wanted to fight Diego Lopes so fans could get the answer on who would emerge victorious.
Ortega has seen plenty of fights get scrapped that never ended up getting rebooked. One of the biggest what-if fights of all time is Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson. So, after Ortega was pulled from his UFC 303 bout against Lopes, he knew his next fight had to be against the Brazilian.
“I already knew this fight was it. Based on the fact that me not being able to make the fight, him winning against Ige, was a big question. If he doesn’t do this tonight then there is no future in terms of fighting him. That means it’s done. He won so that guaranteed that. That is when they pushed for me to fight him,” Brian Ortega said at UFC 306 media day.
“But, I wasn’t reluctant at all. I have a fire lit underneath me because of what happened before. I got to do the whole weigh-ins, got to face off. We went through the motions and we started the story but we never finished it. Saturday we finish it finally. I don’t want to leave anyone with any doubt or anything of how this story ends,” Ortega said.
It is interesting that Brian Ortega wanted this fight back against Diego Lopes. It is a tough bout and one that has ‘T-City’ currently listed the underdog. However, Ortega has full confidence he will get his hand raised on Saturday night.
