Brian Ortega stepped in on short notice to fight former UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar at UFC 222, giving Edgar the first knockout loss of his professional MMA career.
UFC President Dana White says that when UFC Featherweight Champion Max Holloway is healed up from injuries, a title defense against Ortega is what will happen next.
“The fact we now have a title fight with him (Ortega) against Holloway, you know, Holloway looked incredible against Jose Aldo in his last fight and I’m excited about this,” White said at the UFC 222 post-fight press conference.
Ortega was the one who had replaced an injured Max Holloway and fought Frankie Edgar on about a months notice.
For Ortega, a perfect time for the title encounter is going to be this coming July at UFC 226, especially after Holloway brought the date up through Twitter.
“Yeah, sure,” Ortega said at the post-fight press conference when asked if he would like to fight Holloway at UFC 226.
UFC 226 takes place on Saturday, July 7 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada with Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
