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This weekend sees the UFC return of former UFC Featherweight title challenger Brian Ortega, as he faces ‘The Korean Zombie’ Chan Sung Jung in the main event of UFC Fight Island 6. Ortega has not fought since December 2018 but will be hoping to get back onto the winning track here.
One of the most exciting and popular fighters in the UFC’s 145lbs division, Ortega has become renowned for having one of the most dangerous submission games in MMA. But he’s not just a grappler. T-City is also capable of turning the lights out on any opponent he faces.
With a total of seven UFC wins to his name, he’s had some seriously memorable Octagon finishes since his debut back in 2014. Here are five of his best.
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#5 Brian Ortega vs. Diego Brandao – UFC 195, 01/02/2016
After returning from a suspension to defeat veteran Thiago Tavares in the summer of 2015, Ortega was faced with his next challenge at UFC 195 in the form of Diego Brandao. Ceara was renowned for his wild aggression, knockout power, and venomous ground game, and he’d won the Featherweight tournament on the 14th season of The Ultimate Fighter.
This was clearly Ortega’s trickiest test to date, and in the first two rounds, it looked like it was Brandao who had the advantage. Not only did the Brazilian land some hard strikes on Ortega, but he also landed more than one takedown and did some damage with his elbows, too.
Ortega remained calm throughout, though, despite being under a lot of fire. And when Brandao got a little too wild in one of his takedown attempts, T-City sensed his opportunity. Grabbing onto a front headlock, Ortega snapped the Brazilian down into an anaconda choke, and when that failed, he was able to gain full mount and switch to a guillotine choke.
A high-level Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt in his own right, Brandao also avoided the guillotine. However, he found himself caught in a tight triangle choke instead and was forced to tap out.
By submitting such a strong grappler, Ortega had sent a serious message to the rest of the UFC’s Featherweights. And more to the point, by showing off his excellent triangle choke again, it was easy to see what the T in T-City stood for.
#4 Brian Ortega vs. Clay Guida – UFC 199, 06/04/2016
After his win over Diego Brandao, Ortega’s next test came against perennial contender and longtime UFC veteran Clay Guida. Never a tremendous finisher, The Carpenter instead promised to test Ortega’s cardio, resolve, and defensive skills by pushing a torrid pace from the off.
Early on, at least, it looked like Ortega would wilt. Just moments into the first round, he found himself knocked down by a glancing punch. And while he was able to quickly recover, he couldn’t get a handle on Guida’s wild movement and found himself eating far more shots than he could land himself.
Ortega appeared to have more of a grasp of Guida’s style in the second round, but he still struggled. The veteran’s consistent pressure was clearly forcing him onto the back foot, even if he did land some cleaner shots and was able to defend a little better.
In the third round, though, it looked like Guida had the edge again. Sure, Ortega attempted to land some good offense, but The Carpenter was able to absorb it all and return fire while also staying on his back foot. With 20 seconds remaining, it looked like the fight would go to the scorecards with Guida’s hand about to be raised.
Ortega had other ideas, though. He backed Guida into the fence – and then lunged forward with a knee that connected directly to the veteran’s jaw. The Carpenter was sent crashing to the ground, and one follow-up punch was all that was needed to finish the fight.
Not only was the win Ortega’s first clean knockout, but it was also only the second time Guida had ever been stopped by strikes in his career. This was a phenomenal finish that proved that T-City wasn’t just a grappler – he was a ruthless striker, too.
#3 Brian Ortega vs. Renato Moicano – UFC 214, 07/29/2017
After being forced into sitting out for over a year with various injuries, Ortega returned in the summer of 2017 at UFC 214. There, he was matched with dangerous Brazilian Renato Moicano – a man who was 3-0 in the UFC and who had just come off an impressive win over Jeremy Stephens.
Moicano came into the fight favored by most observers, who felt that his substantial skills – coupled with Ortega’s long layoff – would give him the advantage. However, in a fascinating opening round, Ortega showed a much improved striking game, going toe-to-toe with Moicano and even bloodying the Brazilian’s nose.
However, it still didn’t look like it would be enough. Despite Ortega’s clear improvements, Moicano began to dominate the fight with his crisper boxing in the second round, using Ortega’s own aggression against him to land clean counter shots and some sharp leg kicks.
But like his previous fight with Guida, T-City hung tough and never gave up for a second. The third round saw Ortega draw Moicano into a brief firefight, and suddenly, he began to have far more success. Landing combinations that forced Moicano back, Ortega kept piling on the pressure until something had to go.
That something was Moicano’s composure. He shot in for a takedown but left his neck open – and that was all that Ortega needed to latch onto it, lock up a tight guillotine, and squeeze the life out of the Brazilian until he tapped out.
This was like a combination of Ortega’s two previous wins. Like his victory over Brandao, he’d forced a high-level Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt to submit. Like his win over Guida, he had secured a victory from the jaws of defeat, this time with just over two minutes to go in the fight.
#2 Brian Ortega vs. Cub Swanson – UFC Fight Night 123, 12/09/2017
After his win over Moicano, the UFC decided it was time to push Ortega further. And so T-City was booked in his first-ever UFC main event, alongside perennial contender and action hero Cub Swanson. Another Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt with highly impressive striking, it was quite clear that Swanson would be Ortega’s toughest test to date – especially as the veteran was on a four-fight win streak.
However, unlike his prior fights, Ortega decided to come into this one with far more aggression than we’d seen from him before. Rather than wilting when faced with Swanson’s combination-based striking, Ortega decided to fight fire with fire. He came out swinging heavy shots from the off, surprising Swanson and putting the veteran on his back foot.
Ortega fired a major warning shot at the end of the first round when he caught Swanson’s neck and came close with a tight anaconda choke, but evidently, the veteran didn’t quite learn his lesson. And so midway through an exciting second round – a round that saw Swanson begin to gain traction, landing the cleaner strikes – Ortega saw his opportunity and pounced.
When Swanson clinched with him, he left his neck a little too open – and Ortega latched onto a guillotine and then jumped into guard in an attempt to seal the deal. Swanson desperately tried to fight the hold off – only for T-City to adjust the choke while in mid-air, squeezing the neck until the veteran was forced to tap out.
Swanson had been submitted before – by the likes of Frankie Edgar and Max Holloway in the UFC – but nobody had really caught him like this before. Not only was this a landmark win for Ortega – he’d picked up a victory in his first-ever UFC main event – but it also threw him deep into contention for the UFC Featherweight title for the first time, too.
#1 Brian Ortega vs. Frankie Edgar – UFC 222, 03/03/2018
Sometimes when it comes to UFC success, it’s all about seizing an opportunity and making the most of it. That was certainly the case for Ortega in early 2018, as he stepped in on late notice to fight one of the toughest men in UFC history and ended up gaining a title shot for his efforts.
The event in question was UFC 222, which was supposed to see UFC Featherweight champ Max Holloway defend against Frankie Edgar. But a month before the show, Holloway withdrew citing a leg injury, and the UFC approached Ortega to take the fight with Edgar – with the winner then fighting Holloway for the title.
On paper, at least, this looked like a massively difficult fight for Ortega. Not only was Edgar coming off one of the best wins of his career – a mauling of Yair Rodriguez – but he’d only ever lost to Jose Aldo at 145lbs. Additionally, he’d never been finished in 28 professional fights.
T-City’was determined to change all of that, though. And when Edgar began the fight in his usual way – bouncing around to land combinations from the outside – Ortega simply remained calm under fire, waiting for his opportunity to strike.
And strike he did. When Edgar stepped in to land another combo, Ortega countered with a brutal left elbow to the head. The shot instantly wobbled the legs of The Answer, and Ortega followed that with some more big shots – before grabbing the back of Edgar’s head to drop him with a vicious uppercut.
The Answer was knocked silly, and Ortega’s follow-up hammer fists were simply academic. Somehow, despite being more renowned for his grappling than his striking, Ortega had become the first man to knock Edgar out, pulling off a feat that the likes of Aldo, Gray Maynard, BJ Penn, and Chad Mendes had been unable to do.
T-City has not won a fight since, having been on the shelf following his eventual loss to Holloway. But he’ll be looking for another finish like one of these against the Korean Zombie this weekend. And if he can pull it off, it’d be hard to deny him another title shot.
