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Brian Ortega: A Semi-Comprehensive Look at T-City (thread)
Stance:
Ortega is primarily an orthodox, boxing based fighter and his stance reflects that. He keeps his feet fairly wide and normally toed in, this makes him more susceptible to low kicks but makes it easier for him to put power into his lead hand through jabs and lead hooks.
Ortega is primarily an orthodox, boxing based fighter and his stance reflects that. He keeps his feet fairly wide and normally toed in, this makes him more susceptible to low kicks but makes it easier for him to put power into his lead hand through jabs and lead hooks.
He occasionally switches to southpaw for short periods but he is noticeably worse offensively and defensively in southpaw and primarily only throws jabs in that stance.
Pressure:
Ortega is undeniably a better fighter on the front foot than he is on the back foot. He finds most of his success and finishes in his fights when he is moving forward and applying pressure onto his opponents.
Ortega is undeniably a better fighter on the front foot than he is on the back foot. He finds most of his success and finishes in his fights when he is moving forward and applying pressure onto his opponents.
While his pressuring footwork is not great (he doesn’t really cut off the cage, he just follows his opponents), he makes use of constant forward momentum and a barrage of strikes to overwhelm his opponents and deny them clean counterpunching or escaping opportunities.
Boxing:
Ortega’s boxing is his money maker on the feet. He is naturally an aggressive pressure boxer but has shown a tremendous aptitude for counterpunching and many of his best connections are blows scored on the counter.
Ortega’s boxing is his money maker on the feet. He is naturally an aggressive pressure boxer but has shown a tremendous aptitude for counterpunching and many of his best connections are blows scored on the counter.
Ortega has an active lead hand and can jab reasonably well moving forwards and backwards. He tends to get a bit sloppy when he throws his right hand but has scored some clean connections with it.
On the backfoot his money maker is the check or counter lead left (or occasionally right) hook, he is really good at catching opponents with it right as they enter an exchange or as soon as they finish their combinations.
Kicking:
T-City is not a very technical or commitment kicker but he has on occasions shown very powerful low kicks and body kicks. He also occasionally ends his combinations with a right high kick but it doesn’t have too much sting on it.
T-City is not a very technical or commitment kicker but he has on occasions shown very powerful low kicks and body kicks. He also occasionally ends his combinations with a right high kick but it doesn’t have too much sting on it.
Defence:
Defense has always been the weakest link in Ortega’s game, but as he has accumulated time and experience in the UFC he has steadily built upon and improved his defensive toolbox.
Defense has always been the weakest link in Ortega’s game, but as he has accumulated time and experience in the UFC he has steadily built upon and improved his defensive toolbox.
When he first arrived in the UFC, T-City was almost purely a submission grappler and when he was put into dangerous positions on the feet he would just shell up or try to gallop out to the side.
In more recent times Ortega has developed some measure of intelligent defence by adding a number of defensive layers to his game. Despite the Holloway performance being a horrible blowout, Ortega showed some new defensive looks and seemed to be taking steps in the right direction
Ortega initially started with a traditional double forearm guard but this left him vulnerable to straight punches and effectively nullified his countering game as he was forced to glue his hands to his head
But in recent fights he has swapped out this relatively basic defence for a more active high-elbow guard similar to the one Dustin Poirier uses. He will also use his arms to set up frames on shorter opponents so that he can retreat safely.
He has also started incorporating more trunk movement into his game by bending over his hips like you would see a traditional boxer do. He unfortunately has not shown this much as an reactive defence and mostly just uses it in neutral space before exchanges start
While he has by no means mastered these defensive maneuvers (they often disappear in extended or heated exchanges), it is encouraging to see him add these tools and they make him a less vulnerable target in open space.
For all the praise I heaped onto his defence there is still a lot to take issue with.
Ortega does not individually defend punches, he treats the opponent’s whole combo as one singular attack and will shell up or frame and then his defence becomes static until the opponent shows him an opening or backs off.
He is also sometimes too eager to counter and can eat huge shots as a result of disregarding the opponent’s striking.
And he sometimes gets sloppy when he attacks and completely abandons his defence which has led to him being clobbered on the counter repeatedly in his fights.
While Ortega’s defence is not phenomenal, it is a step in the right direction and he does seem to realise the value of it. The most important part of his defence is his ability to chain offence into it. Ortega is brilliant at turning defensive exchanges into an offensive ones
Physicality:
Ortega is a pretty huge 145-er and he seems physically strong as well. He does have decent hand and foot speed but these are let down by the flaws in his footwork and punching mechanics.
Ortega is a pretty huge 145-er and he seems physically strong as well. He does have decent hand and foot speed but these are let down by the flaws in his footwork and punching mechanics.
He often crosses his feet and abandons his stance and flares his elbows when he throws straight punches. When Ortega is not doing these things he seems like a decently but not extremely fast FW.
Ortega also seems to have decent power, while he doesn’t have traditional one punch KO power, he does have the power to hurt his opponents and has done so to almost every one of his UFC opponent’s.
Ortega is also a stupidly durable fighter. A lot of his finishes come after 3 rounds of hellacious damage inflicted on him by his opponents and he has never looked out of the fight for a moment.
Clinch:
Ortega is a very unique threat in the clinch. He is not an incredibly substantial damage or takedown threat in that range but he has highly unusual finishing power and options from there.
Ortega is a very unique threat in the clinch. He is not an incredibly substantial damage or takedown threat in that range but he has highly unusual finishing power and options from there.
If you lower your head to post against his chest at any time in the clinch, he will snap up your neck up in a split second and have you in worlds of danger.
He does occasionally attempt single leg takedowns and knees to the body from more neutral positions in the clinch but as stated before these are not consistently reliable or damaging enough.
Ground Game:
Honestly I do not feel knowledgeable enough in this area to comprehensively discuss Ortega’s grappling. But suffice to say that he is an extremely aggressive grappler who constantly looks for submissions and damage in every phase and position.
Honestly I do not feel knowledgeable enough in this area to comprehensively discuss Ortega’s grappling. But suffice to say that he is an extremely aggressive grappler who constantly looks for submissions and damage in every phase and position.
He is also a fantastic opportunistic finisher and if you ever leave yourself in a dangerous position for even a second, Ortega can finish your night with ease.
