Brian Ortega has walked down this road before. Two challenges for the UFC featherweight title; two losses to dominant champions. 

Saturday will mark the first big step on the way to a third shot, when the 31-year-old headlines the first UFC event at UBS Arena (2 p.m., ABC) against Yair Rodriguez. 

“Something that I did learn from my first defeat was [that] I thrive when I put myself in parts and worlds that I’m not good at,” Ortega (15-2, 10 finishes) told reporters this week. “Like, when I go to the gym, if it’s me and you, and you start beating my ass, I’m like, f–k yeah, this is what I need.” 

That first loss, via TKO to Max Holloway at the end of 2018, was followed by an impressive showcase of Ortega’s improved striking prowess in his October 2020 return victory by decision over “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung. That lone win was enough to net a shot against Alexander Volkanovski, who in the interim had twice defeated Holloway. 

Against Volkanovski last September, Ortega came about as close as any man ever has to a UFC championship without actually taking home the belt. Down two rounds on the scorecards and off to a tough start in the middle of five scheduled frames, the challenger pounced on a briefly downed Volkanovski with a mounted guillotine choke. The Aussie champ wildly flailed his legs while Ortega cranked on his neck. 

In Ortega’s mind — and, likely, to the majority watching worldwide — the belt was about to be his. 

“I’m about to be a world champ,” Ortega remembers thinking. “I was just waiting for the tap, and it never came. He got out, and I was like, ‘S–t, this is a tough motherf–ker.’ And then it was like, he’s on top now. OK, he’s pissed.” 

Volkanovski, on top in Ortega’s guard, bashed the Southern California native with heavy hands. But Ortega’s guard is as dangerous as anyone’s in the sport, so it was only fitting that the man nicknamed “T-City” (the T stands for triangle) locked in his specialty choke. 

“[During] the triangle, I was like, ‘T-City by T-City!’ And then he escaped,” Ortega recalled. “I’m like, ‘F–k me, right?’ Then I was like, ‘Damn, bro, this is not my f–king night.” 

Outside of one of the wildest rounds the young sport has yet produced, it really was not his night in Las Vegas. Volkanovski asserted himself in a big way over the final two rounds to secure another title defense. Ortega was left to pick up the pieces. 

In preparing for his return to the octagon this weekend, Ortega resolved not to have a pity party. First-hand, he knows how high the bar is to clear if he wants to become a champion like Volkanovski. 

“Go in there and make the adjustments and make sure you’re undeniable, the way he’s doing right now,” said Ortega of his mentality since last fall. “I got to take a page off his book. He’s making sure that he’s undeniably the best there is.” 

Rodriguez (13-3, seven finishes), a flashy striker whom Ortega considers a friend, said he has been told he will earn a shot at Volkanovski and his gold with a win on Long Island. Ortega had not heard the same stakes apply if his hand gets raised, although he believes he’s “not too far away from there” regardless. 

Not wishing to look past the 29-year-old Rodriguez, a native of Mexico, like Ortega’s parents, the two-time title challenger nonetheless believes his third-round threats against Volkanovski could help fast-track him for a second time. 

“I’m so far the man who’s put the champ in the most trouble,” Ortega said. “I’m not saying I beat him or nothing, right, but where he’s had the most difficulty or someone who’s dangerous to face him is me. And the world saw that, and he knows that.”