"Never live below ppl" - Fans react as Brian Ortega reveals dark inspiration behind his famous Purge walkout at UFC 266

Former UFC featherweight title challenger Brian Ortega recently spoke about the bone-chilling "Purge" walkout he did at UFC 266 back in 2021. The walkout music and matching masks were inspired by the famous film franchise, "The Purge", which is about a fictional America where citizens are allowed to commit crimes for one night of the year.

Here's a fan video edit of Ortega's UFC 266 walkout posted by Dean Hodges on YouTube:

During his pre-fight media scrum for his fight with Diego Lopes at UFC 303 this weekend, 'T-City' was asked what inspired the hair-raising walkout theme. Brian Ortega replied with:

"At that time, I was living in an apartment. I left the house to [ex-fiance, UFC flyweight Tracy Cortez] when I separated [with her]. And there's this neighbor upstairs who just, every hour, it was like two in the morning, three in the morning, four in the morning, and I'm like, 'Dude, you guys [have to] go to sleep, like, c'mon...I got a fight I got to train for. I got a world title fight, what are you guys doing?'"

He continued with:

"And then I was watching some reels or something and The Purge song came on, right? And I started fantasizing, not the best thing, but if The Purge was real, the first thing I'm doing is I'm going upstairs."

Here's the full video interview as posted by MMA Junkie on Instagram:

Ortega ended up fighting a brutal war with then-world champion Alexander Volkanovski that later won Fight of the Year honors. Fans reacted to the story in the comments section, with @pgamva saying:

"Never live below ppl. 😂"

@matthiasjoyce said:

"he shouldn't have said ANY of this man sh*t 😂😂😂"

Comments on Brian Ortega's story. [Image credit: @mmajunkie on Instagram]

Here are more comments:

More comments on the video. [Image credit: @mmajunkie on Instagram]

---

Brian Ortega originally wanted to scare the crowd during "Purge" walkout at UFC 266

Speaking further on the famous walkout, Brian Ortega revealed that he had some wild plans for it but was ultimately rejected by the UFC. He really wanted to make everyone feel like "The Purge" was coming.

Ortega said:

"So that was the concept; be all hoodied up with a lighted mask. And I was like, 'Dude, what if I walked out to this? Wouldn't that be dope? There's no logos on this. The mask costs five dollars. Cheapest walkout ever. The soundtrack was dope. And I'd mess with all you guys in the crowd.'"

He continued with:

"The song I originally had was a little more scary. It felt like a little more real. I was hoping for, like, everyone in the crowd [to] get scared a little bit. Like, 'Hold on, what's going on? Do they really allow this?'... But then the UFC said it has to be known that it's a walk out and not have people panicking."