‘They Threw Me in There to Basically Get Killed’- Brian Ortega Gets Real About Almost Walking Away From MMA in 2015
Speaking out on Spinnin Backfist on Barstool Sports, Brian Ortega talked about how his MMA journey was almost cut short in 2015. After being busted for a PED and having to sit out for 9 months, Brian Ortega was soon faced with a challenge that he initially billed as virtually impossible.
He was lined up to face veteran fighter Thiago Tavares, and Ortega was still training out of his garage, with no formal training set-up. The road was certainly challenging for Ortega, and hearing him recount his days of doubt is truly eye-opening for fans of ‘T-City’.
Sigue la acción con Thiago Tavares vs. Brian Ortega #MMA #MMAMexico #UFCNOLA pic.twitter.com/zbCELyLJw3
— SoloMMA (@Solo_MMA) June 7, 2015
“I was broke, used the GST (training classes) money that I got to pay my rent, support my kids, and then shit I had no money after that. I’m going into a UFC fight broke as shit. walk in and it’s like cool, this guy a veteran, he’s had 15 fights in the UFC.”
“I’m 15-2 right now, so at that time I was 7-0 or something, I was like damn, f*****g guy is yaked up, buff as f**k, thrid degree black belt, wrestler, Phuket muay Thai, and I was just training with cops. To me, that was the biggest one, man. They threw me in there to basically get killed.” [h/t bjpenn.com]
However, as Brian Ortega would go on to describe, the fight was an all-out war in which he would come out on top with a TKO finish. The win was instrumental for Ortega as it affirmed his own belief that he could venture into trying territory if he needed to.
“Sure enough, we had a war. It was a war, if you haven’t watched that fight, it is for sure a classic, to me it is a classic. In the third round, I finished him and TKO’d him. It took everything out of me, I know you guys see me leave it out there, I left it all out there. I won, put my hands up and I just dropped… To me, I really needed that, I was going to quit if I lost that fight. I was just at the point in my life where I wasn’t making money.”
Ortega would win his next five fights in a row, all being finishes and ultimately challenge Max Holloway for the best in December 2018.
