Brian Ortega and Diego Brandao were supposed to fight back in 2014, but Brandao didn’t have a choice but to back out from the said MMA fight due to an injury. He returned to the octagon 8 weeks after the injury and faced Conor McGregor in Ireland on a short notice.
Brandao, who is training at Jackson Wink for his UFC fights, went back to Brazil to participate in a camp held in Sao Paulo. This camp actually paid off because he managed to win over Jimy Hettes and Katsunori Kikuno during the first round of the bout.
“I have that passion again. I lost it, had no desire to train or fight, but I got this passion again. I’m really happy with what I have accomplished in 2015. It was a great year for me. I felt comfortable fighting, and that got me more focused for my next fight. I trained as if he was the champion.” Brandao said. The Brazilian MMA fighter is scheduled to fight Ortega at UFC 195 this coming January 2nd in Las Vegas.
Brian Ortega only fought once this year and this was where he managed to win over Thiago Alves in one of the most epic MMA bouts the year. Brandao, just like everybody else, is well aware of skills that Ortega has because of this event.
“He’s a jiu-jitsu guy, so I went back to my jiu-jitsu training. I’m a black belt from Manaus, that’s how I started training martial arts, and I want to prove that in this fight too. I want to put on a show. I don’t want a boring fight. I will be aggressive. That’s my fourth camp this year, and I have evolved a lot since my last fight. He doesn’t defend takedowns. He challenged me to find out who has the best jiu-jitsu, so we’ll see. Nobody ever saw me using my jiu-jitsu except for the TUF finale. I was out, but still was able to get that arm. That proved my jiu-jitsu. But my goal is to beat him standing. I want to show I’m back. I want to win so fast he won’t be able to do anything with his jiu-jitsu. He has a good jiu-jitsu, a good game off his back, but I’m ready to counter everything he does. I will try to finish him in the first round, but I don’t know how he will react in the fight. I want to win as fast as possible,” Brandao said.
Brandao, who is currently holding a record of 6-3 and being on the 15th spot of the MMA featherweight division, is certain that he wants to do better this coming 2016.
“I have my goals, and I want a top 5 after this fight. I can’t pick anyone because I have Brian Ortega in front of me right now, but I want a top 5 after him,” Brandao said. He also wants to show everyone that he not the same fighter who lost to McGregor back in Dublin.
“(McGregor) didn’t knock me out. Everybody knows I asked to stop the fight. I said ‘stop hitting me’. He didn’t knock me out. And that’s a fight I want for the future. Nobody knows what I went through in that camp, but I have nothing to say. I didn’t deserve the victory that night. I still have a lot to prove, but I’ll get there step by step,” Brandao added.