UFC 266: Alex Volkanovski beats up Brian Ortega for unanimous decision in featherweight title thriller
- Australian retains belt in an instant classic after American challenger comes close to submitting him twice in third round
- ‘I feel like an idiot saying some of the things I said because he proved himself,’ says Volkanovski, following heated build-up
Alex Volkanovski and Brian Ortega put on a classic in Saturday night’s UFC 266 main event, the Australian retaining his featherweight title with a unanimous decision in Las Vegas.
The judges’ scorecards had it 49-46, 50-45, and 50-44 for the 32-year-old Volkanovski at the T-Mobile Arena, but that did not tell the whole story. Not by a long way.
The 30-year-old American “T-City” (15-2, one no contest) ultimately came up way short again in his second attempt at taking the 145-pound title, his badly-bruised face telling the story, but he came very close to finishing the fight with two submission attempts in the third round.
“Obviously some of the submissions are pretty tight,” Volkanovski (23-1) told Daniel Cormier in a post-fight interview in the Octagon. “For some reason I stayed on the ground with him.
“Man, he’s good. Obviously I was gonna talk and say he’s not on my level. I thought I was in his head, but he came back stronger. I feel like an idiot saying some of the things I said because he proved himself.”