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Brian Ortega has already come out and defended his decision not to accept a replacement fight at UFC 226 after featherweight champ Max Holloway’s sudden withdrawal from their scheduled co-headliner.
The way Ortega sees it, he isn’t a “yes man.” And that hint of defiance adds intrigue when hearing him recall his meeting with UFC President Dana White to inform him that he wouldn’t fight Jeremy Stephens for an interim title on three days’ notice.
Two things are important to note here: 1) The meeting took place not long after Daniel Cormier fell on stage during the UFC 226 pre-event press conference, which briefly sent everyone in a panic. 2) Ortega wasn’t alone for this meeting; his team was with him.
With that in mind, here’s how the meeting went down, according to Ortega (14-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) during an appearance on “Below The Belt” with Brendan Schaub.
“(White) was pretty pissed off. He was just in a bad mood,” Ortega said. “Fight fell through, I didn’t realize DC just fell on the stage. And then he walks in this meeting, and I’m over here telling him, ‘Hey, man, I’m not going to fight.’ Like, I’m holding my ground. I said, ‘Listen, with all due respect, I stepped in and fought (Thiago) Tavares on two weeks’ notice, I stepped in and fought Frankie (Edgar) on three weeks’ notice, and I stepped in to try to fight Khabib (Nurmagomedov) on six days’ notice.’ I go, ‘It’s not a scared issue. It’s not that I’m not down for the company.’ I go, ‘Now it’s just, I finished everyone you told me to. Every single person you put in front of me, I took their heads out, like Conor (McGregor) says, and I put them on your (expletive) doorstep.’ I go, ‘And that earned me a title shot. Now that I’m here, why go anywhere else besides forward?'”
Which is reasonable logic. So what was White’s response to that?
“He put on his promoter hat,” Ortega said. “He’s like, ‘Listen, man, just fight. Blah, blah, blah, we’ll work something out.’ And then I was like, ‘We don’t need to work anything out. I want Max Holloway, or I want the belt.’ He says, ‘I’m going to see if we can do an interim fight.’ I was like, ‘I’m not fighting for a fake belt. It looks cool, but it’s not the real belt, doesn’t get you the real – there’s no real money involved with that one, nothing that really goes on in terms of being the champion. You just get something that says I’m in first place. It just says I’m next in line for the belt.’ Which is like, I’m already here, right? You just want to put something shiny around my waist to make me feel better. I was like, ‘No, I’m not going to do it.'”
Firm in his decision not to risk the title shot he’s earned, Ortega brought up the issue of compensation. He put in the time training, showed up where he was supposed to, did everything asked of him, including double the promotion with Spanish-language media. He figured he still had some compensation coming to him.
“I’m like, ‘I’ve been showing you I’m a company man,'” Ortega said. “‘I’m down to promote the hell out of this fight. I’m taking extra hours while I’m hungry, starving to keep doing media.’ I was like, ‘And I’ve been cutting weight, did the open workouts, ready for media. I showed up. Don’t you think that’s worth something?’ That’s worth something even if I didn’t take the fight. Still, I go, ‘I did my end of the deal.’ And then they came back and it was like, ‘Well, our deal is to find you a fight, and we found you a fight, and you turned it down.’ I was like, ‘Not really.’ … He goes, ‘Well, I did my job. You didn’t do yours. Your job is to show up and fight.'”
Ortega asked if the UFC would at least cover his camp expenses but to no avail. He said he got nothing.
https://mmajunkie.com/2018/07/brian...sed-off-ufc-226/amp?__twitter_impression=true
The way Ortega sees it, he isn’t a “yes man.” And that hint of defiance adds intrigue when hearing him recall his meeting with UFC President Dana White to inform him that he wouldn’t fight Jeremy Stephens for an interim title on three days’ notice.
Two things are important to note here: 1) The meeting took place not long after Daniel Cormier fell on stage during the UFC 226 pre-event press conference, which briefly sent everyone in a panic. 2) Ortega wasn’t alone for this meeting; his team was with him.
With that in mind, here’s how the meeting went down, according to Ortega (14-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) during an appearance on “Below The Belt” with Brendan Schaub.
“(White) was pretty pissed off. He was just in a bad mood,” Ortega said. “Fight fell through, I didn’t realize DC just fell on the stage. And then he walks in this meeting, and I’m over here telling him, ‘Hey, man, I’m not going to fight.’ Like, I’m holding my ground. I said, ‘Listen, with all due respect, I stepped in and fought (Thiago) Tavares on two weeks’ notice, I stepped in and fought Frankie (Edgar) on three weeks’ notice, and I stepped in to try to fight Khabib (Nurmagomedov) on six days’ notice.’ I go, ‘It’s not a scared issue. It’s not that I’m not down for the company.’ I go, ‘Now it’s just, I finished everyone you told me to. Every single person you put in front of me, I took their heads out, like Conor (McGregor) says, and I put them on your (expletive) doorstep.’ I go, ‘And that earned me a title shot. Now that I’m here, why go anywhere else besides forward?'”
Which is reasonable logic. So what was White’s response to that?
“He put on his promoter hat,” Ortega said. “He’s like, ‘Listen, man, just fight. Blah, blah, blah, we’ll work something out.’ And then I was like, ‘We don’t need to work anything out. I want Max Holloway, or I want the belt.’ He says, ‘I’m going to see if we can do an interim fight.’ I was like, ‘I’m not fighting for a fake belt. It looks cool, but it’s not the real belt, doesn’t get you the real – there’s no real money involved with that one, nothing that really goes on in terms of being the champion. You just get something that says I’m in first place. It just says I’m next in line for the belt.’ Which is like, I’m already here, right? You just want to put something shiny around my waist to make me feel better. I was like, ‘No, I’m not going to do it.'”
Firm in his decision not to risk the title shot he’s earned, Ortega brought up the issue of compensation. He put in the time training, showed up where he was supposed to, did everything asked of him, including double the promotion with Spanish-language media. He figured he still had some compensation coming to him.
“I’m like, ‘I’ve been showing you I’m a company man,'” Ortega said. “‘I’m down to promote the hell out of this fight. I’m taking extra hours while I’m hungry, starving to keep doing media.’ I was like, ‘And I’ve been cutting weight, did the open workouts, ready for media. I showed up. Don’t you think that’s worth something?’ That’s worth something even if I didn’t take the fight. Still, I go, ‘I did my end of the deal.’ And then they came back and it was like, ‘Well, our deal is to find you a fight, and we found you a fight, and you turned it down.’ I was like, ‘Not really.’ … He goes, ‘Well, I did my job. You didn’t do yours. Your job is to show up and fight.'”
Ortega asked if the UFC would at least cover his camp expenses but to no avail. He said he got nothing.
https://mmajunkie.com/2018/07/brian...sed-off-ufc-226/amp?__twitter_impression=true
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