Brian Ortega Wants Khabib Nurmagomedov After Max Holloway Fight
Brian Ortega is challenging Max Holloway for the UFC Featherweight Title in the co-main event of UFC 226.
The featherweight contender has an opponent in mind after his title bout and that is UFC Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
“It’s on my radar,” he said to MMA Junkie. “I have a big fight right now, but that one, for sure, it’s on the radar. I have to be successful on July 7, and hopefully, I can make that (fight with Nurmagomedov) happen after.”
If Ortega can defeat Holloway for the gold and then challenge Nurmagomedov, it could make him just a handful of fighters to hold two belts in two different weight classes.
Nurmagomedov has some of the best wrestling in MMA, but Ortega believes his bottom game would provide a challenge to the lightweight champion.
“Not too many people present a good ground game from the bottom,” Ortega said. “They survive a little bit, and it’s kind of boring. But not too many people are attacking from the bottom, hurting with elbows. They don’t bring that kind of game because it takes a long time to develop. Whereas me, I grew up in that situation, where I was always the bottom guy, always getting beat up by these guys. So I had to adapt my game to that.”
UFC 226 takes place on Saturday, July 7 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada with Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
