Brian Ortega says he’s always had a good relationship with Aljamain Sterling, until the former bantamweight champion said his name as a possible opponent he’d like to fight.
Now, Ortega and Sterling battle it out in a five-round co-main event this Saturday at UFC Shanghai. In a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Sterling said that he and his opponent are very cordial and have a pretty good relationship. In Ortega’s eyes, he feels the same, for the most part.
“Yeah, it’s an interesting one, you know,
because we’ve actually hung out and we’ve trained together and things like that,” Ortega told MMA Fighting. “And then when he called me out, that’s when I was confused, per se. “Yeah man, it’s just a little weird. That’s it, but we all think [differently].”
Both fighters look to bounce back from losses in their most recent bouts. Sterling lost a close decision against Movsar Evloev at UFC 310 in December, while Ortega was on the wrong end of a lopsided unanimous decision loss to Diego Lopes at UFC 306.
“T-City” says he learned a lot from that loss, and plans to turn back the clock, so to speak, against the former bantamweight champion — which could potentially lead to a big opportunity in a very interesting, and ever-changing featherweight division.
“I think you just have to make impressionable fights, like when you leave and you make good fights, that’s it man,” Ortega said. “I don’t plan on being on… I’ve never been in a boring fight. I can stir some shit up. …
“[A win] just puts me right back in that title contention, that’s all it does. A win over someone as credible as him puts you back in there for title contention, with a little bit of doubt, obviously, from the fans and the people, cause he was a [135] pound champ.
“They’ll never give you the full credit you deserve, so they’ll probably tell you to fight someone else who’s a solidified featherweight a bit longer, or better, or whatever their stats [are], and then, I [beat] that person.”
Sterling admits he’s a bit confused about why the fight is a five-rounder, most notably because, according to Sterling, there isn’t an extra financial incentive to add the potential extra 10 minutes.
In Ortega’s eyes, it isn’t a business move to tack on another two rounds, but instead perhaps the UFC wants to add a bit more excitement and intrigue to a pivotal divisional clash.
“If I had to put my guess into it, it would be the same thing, right? We were [both] getting paid the same thing,” Ortega explained. “I believe that three rounds, if you see his style, it just, I don’t know, people can kind of get turned off to that fan-wise. I think the UFC wants to put us in there with more time with more.
“You just gotta give the fans an off factor I guess. I think that’s going to happen. When you leave two people in there [for] a long enough time it’s like, it’s not going to be boring. …
“I mean, in my head, bro, I’ve been training for five rounds since 2017,” Ortega continued. “I’m almost numb [to it] now, if it makes sense. It’s just like, bro, we’ve trained like this forever. So what’s the difference, three of five [rounds]?”
