Brian Ortega put on the best fight of the year in all of MMA and in 2021 and since that fight in September Ortega has been on medical suspension and it is halfway done and will end in March, so in this piece we look at possibilities for what’s next for Ortega. Ortega is one of the best Jiu Jitsu practitioner in the UFC promtion and MMA as a whole. His submissions almost got him a title in 2021 and we think there are some great fights that Ortega could partake in. Could a fight with number three ranked Yair Rodriquez be in the cards. Another possibility would be a fight between Ortega and the winner of the next UFC Fight Night headlining bout between Calvin Kattar and Giga Chikadze. Or could a rematch between Alexander Volkanovski be in the cards.
One of the most interesting fights would be a fight between Ortega and Rodriquez. Rodriquez is coming off a loss to Max Holloway in a title eliminator in November. Rodriquez has an impressive record with his only losses in the UFC coming against Frankie Edgar and Max Holloway. Rodriquez had an impressive record of 5-1 before reaching the UFC and his striking is very good. He holds a black belt in Taekwondo and four of his 13 wins have come by knockout. Rodriquez has submission skills too, but if he were to face Ortega in the UFC Octagon I think he’d definitely want to keep the fight standing as Ortega’s Jiu Jitsu is next level. This striker vs. Grappler matchup would be a great fight.
Another possible matchup for Ortega could be the winner of the bout between Calvin Kattar and Giga Chikadze. Kattar has a wrestling background and it would be interesting to see his wrestling matched up against Ortega’s Jiu jitsu. It would make for a great matchup. Kattar has a pretty good record at 22-5 and is coming off a loss to the greatest Featherweight of all time, Holloway. Chikadze sports an impressive 14-2 record and is currently ranked eighth in the Featherweight division. He is riding an impressive nine fight win streak and he hopes to make it ten when he faces off against Kattar. Chikadze is a striker and a Black Belt in both Goju-ryu Karate and Kyokushin Karate. This would be another great striker vs Grappler matchup for Ortega.
Speaking directly as a fan I’d love to see a rematch with Alexander Volkanovski. Volkanovski and Ortega put on a great show in their last outings. Volkanovski slipped out of a mounted guillotine choke that anyone else in the UFC definitely would have tapped out of. Volkanovski showed why he is the champ, but as a fan I would love to see these two run it back again. Volanovski sports an impressive 23-1 record and is on a 20 fight win streak. With impressive wins over Chad Mendes, José Aldo, and Holloway. Volanovski has an impressive number of Knockout wins at 11 of his 21 wins coming that way, but he also has an impressive three wins by submission. I want to see Ortega vs. Volkanovski II.
I’m not Dana White or the UFC matchmakers but I think these would be awesome matchup for the UFC to put on. And I’m excited to see who Ortega fights next.
MMA Aficionado 