Brian Ortega prefers fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov over Conor McGregor

Before his upcoming featherweight title, Brian Ortega is looking ahead at a possible super fight with the biggest stars of the lightweight division.

Brian Ortega has the biggest task of his professional career immediately ahead of him this weekend at UFC 231 in Toronto, Canada. The undefeated featherweight from California is taking on champion Max Holloway in a rescheduled bout, but he can’t help but look at potential opportunities in the future, including super fights.

“You look at some of these guys who make super fights,” Ortega said at a UFC 231 media event via MMAFighting.com. “And you’re like, damn, I wish I was a part of that fight. I like super fights. I want super fights. I want guys that I can match up well where people don’t know what going to happen. I’ve got these ideas I want to go for if I’m successful hopefully I can start asking Dana White for them.”

Ortega had thoughts while watching the main event of UFC 299 between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor. That fight sparked his interest in fighting these two men, but when asked if he would prefer Nurmagomedov over McGregor, Ortega said, “Yea.”

“It’s within reach,” Ortega said. “If I play my cards right, it’s within reach. The stylistic matchup, because every grappler, we have this since even before I was training, this whole wrestler vs. jiu-jitsu. “We get along in the gym and we’re always like, you know, this is a matchup. Our hands are both good. He’s a top game guy and a wrestler and I’m a bottom game guy and a jiu-jitsu guy, yea, I’d watch.”

Ortega is a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu black belt with seven of his 14 wins coming from submission. If this fight with Holloway goes according to plan perhaps we could see him try his hand at defeating Nurmagomedov in a lightweight title bout next.