Brian Ortega wanted Diego Lopes fight to be rebooked to “finish” their story: “I don’t want to leave anyone with any doubt”

Brian Ortega wanted to fight Diego Lopes so fans could get the answer on who would emerge victorious.

Ortega has seen plenty of fights get scrapped that never ended up getting rebooked. One of the biggest what-if fights of all time is Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson. So, after Ortega was pulled from his UFC 303 bout against Lopes, he knew his next fight had to be against the Brazilian.

“I already knew this fight was it. Based on the fact that me not being able to make the fight, him winning against Ige, was a big question. If he doesn’t do this tonight then there is no future in terms of fighting him. That means it’s done. He won so that guaranteed that. That is when they pushed for me to fight him,” Brian Ortega said at UFC 306 media day.

“But, I wasn’t reluctant at all. I have a fire lit underneath me because of what happened before. I got to do the whole weigh-ins, got to face off. We went through the motions and we started the story but we never finished it. Saturday we finish it finally. I don’t want to leave anyone with any doubt or anything of how this story ends,” Ortega said.

It is interesting that Brian Ortega wanted this fight back against Diego Lopes. It is a tough bout and one that has ‘T-City’ currently listed the underdog. However, Ortega has full confidence he will get his hand raised on Saturday night.

Brian Ortega not ruling out moving up to lightweight next

Although Brian Ortega is set for a potential No. 1 contender fight at featherweight, ‘T-City’ says he may move up to lightweight next.

Ortega has talked about the idea of going to 155lbs. However, he says he will let the fans decide if they think he deserves another title shot. But, Ortega says he just wants to be active regardless of weight class.

“Depending how this fight goes this weekend, it’s going to determine whether the fans believe that I deserve another shot or not. But either/or, my goal is to stay busy and if there’s nothing for me in the featherweight division, then I’ll move up,” Ortega said.

Ortega is coming off a submission win over Yair Rodriguez back in February at UFC Mexico City.