Brian Ortega doesn’t think his fight against Diego Lopes will go the distance.
Ortega was preparing for a move to lightweight when he accepted a featherweight booking against Lopes on two weeks’ notice at UFC 303 this past June. When Ortega faced trouble cutting weight, Lopes accepted the fight at lightweight. However, Ortega had to pull out on fight night.
In an unprecedented turn of events, Dan Ige replaced Lopes on four hours’ notice at a catchweight of 165 pounds, dropping an entertaining unanimous decision. Ortega has since expressed his admiration for both Ige and Lopes for agreeing to fight on four hours’ notice.
Ortega’s booking against Lopes has been remade for UFC 306, which goes down at the Sphere in Las Vegas on Saturday. Ortega notes that they are both evenly matched on the ground as well as on the feet to an extent that he is almost fighting a slightly different version of himself.
UFC 306: O’Malley vs. Dvalishvili Saturday at 10 ET on ESPN+. Order Now!
“You have someone who refuses to lose [on the ground] and refuses to lose in the stand up,” Ortega told Submission Radio. “So when I say that, I bet you have no idea who I’m talking about. That’s why this is a exciting fight. You get to fight almost like a version of yourself. Tad bit different styles, same mentality.”
Ortega is also confident that someone will get finished in the fight. Boasting seven finishes in his eight UFC wins, Ortega knows someone is going out on their shield, and he doesn’t plan on doing so.
“Someone is gonna get finished. Guaranteed,” Ortega said. “You know me, you’ve seen me. I either put you on your shield or you put me on mine. I’m not going out on my shield.”
Ortega is coming off a submission win over Yair Rodriguez that saw him rebound from a two-fight slump in his return to action after a two-year hiatus this past February. Meanwhile, Lopes has mounted a four-fight winning streak — with three first round finishes — after coming up on the short side of a decision in his “Fight of the Night” UFC debut against Movsar Evloev.
