Late in the second round of Brian Ortega‘s main event fight with fellow top UFC featherweight Chan Sung Jung on Tuesday night, “T-City” really needed to dig in his heels.
Ortega had looked like a new man in the early goings of the bout – and not just because he had shaved his head. After almost two years out of the Octagon, Ortega looked sharper and more comfortable than ever on the feet, scoring points against the Korean Zombie with sound striking from distance. But with the heavy-handed Jung starting to settle in and land some shots, it looked like Ortega’s new approach was going to be put to a severe test.
Then Ortega hit this:
That spinning elbow wasn’t going to finish the fight. They don’t call Jung the Korean Zombie for nothing. But it set the tone for the next 15 minutes, and all but assured Ortega’s unanimous decision victory – Jung stated after the fight that he doesn’t remember the last three rounds.
The elbow was the singular moment of brilliance that stands out from one of the best and most surprising performances of Ortega’s career. After getting outclassed on the feet in his title shot at the great Max Holloway in Dec. 2018, Ortega realized that he had some game-breaking shortcomings, and he needed to switch things up.
Previously, Ortega hadn’t really ever been a part of a full MMA camp: he drilled his excellent BJJ game with the acclaimed Rener Gracie, and for his striking, he worked with a boxing coach named James Luhrsen, who had taken Ortega in after a troubled upbringing in San Pedro, California. Some fellow fighters and trainers have marveled at how far Ortega managed to make it with so little actual MMA training, but it became evident after the Holloway fight that he could only go so far.
Ortega still has a tight relationship with Gracie, who only wasn’t in his corner on Fight Island because of a positive COVID-19 test, but he’s no longer associated with Luhrsen – although he hasn’t stated exactly what caused the split, he’s hinted at an “unhealthy” and “toxic” environment. He’s now, at last, finally in the fold of a real MMA camp, training at the Huntington Beach Ultimate Training Center with a number of other notable names.
After two years away due to that reorganization of his professional life, and recovering from various injuries, Ortega reappeared on Fight Island looking completely different. He managed to dominate Jung without once using his widely hailed jiu-jitsu attack, instead picking the veteran action machine apart on the feet.
I’ve always thought Ortega had some pop and some natural ability in the striking game, but it was obvious for years that his level of technique and training didn’t match what it should be. On Saturday, however, he showed up looking like he’d been doing this for years. Ortega stayed in complete control for five rounds, effectively using his reach advantage, a popping jab, a good mixture of strikes to the head and body and a takedown or two to earn 50-45s on all cards.
I was particularly struck by how Ortega used the threat of his ground game to throw Zombie off without actually going to the ground: several times you saw Ortega change levels and grab Jung’s leg, threatening the takedown, making him think about it, with no actual intentions of following through with it. More often than not, he’d immediately pop back up and crack Jung with a right.
Ortega looked composed and tactical all night long. In doing so, he’s earned a shot at champion Alexander Volkanovski, in a fight that looks way more interesting now than it did just a few nights ago. Volk will have some advantages that Jung didn’t: first, he’ll actually have some tape on this new Ortega, while Jung was the unfortunate soul who had to fight a completely remade contender blind.
Volkanovski also fights a completely different type of style than Jung, one who could provide many different dangers. Jung is known for, at times, wildly throwing down, taking bombs and landing bombs of his own – it’s how he earned the Korean Zombie name. But at his heart, Jung is a counter-striker, wanting his opponents to come forward and lead into those exchanges. Ortega fought the smart fight and didn’t oblige him, instead repeatedly exploiting the advantages that he had for 25 minutes.
Ortega didn’t fight a high-output kind of fight: he was still mostly throwing one shot at a time. Someone like Volkanovski or Holloway, a much higher level of technical striker than Jung, will be more confident moving forward, stringing together combinations and putting all of Ortega’s improvements to the absolute test. Jung had to go in blind, and fought a style that allowed Ortega to settle in – he might not get that opportunity in the future.
Of course, Ortega still has the brilliant ground game that we didn’t see on Saturday, and may once again be the great equalizer in the future. But Ortega hinted on Saturday that it might not have to be the end-all, be-all. And in doing so, he might have signaled to Volkanovski that he might get a bit more than he bargained for when these two finally meet.
The Big Fight 