Full Contact Fighter Database

Home

>

News

>

Article

Media

Tuesday, Apr 29, 2014

Dustin Ortiz Weighs in on UFC on FOX 11 Win, Says Scrap With Ray Borg Was a “Huge Risk”

Dustin Ortiz (photo via UFC.com)

By Kelsey Mowatt

Dustin Ortiz may have retained his top fifteen ranking at UFC on FOX 11, thanks to a split decision win over Ray Borg, but that doesn’t mean he’s forgotten what was on the line April 19th. While Borg has been touted as a top flyweight prospect, at the end of the day, the fighter’s status doesn’t match Ortiz’s at this juncture. In other words, a loss to the rising FIT NHB fighter would have been a considerable setback.

“To get that fight I was taking a huge risk…he didn’t have the profile of the guy that I was supposed to fight,” Ortiz relayed on a recent episode of Full Contact Fighter Radio, while discussing the fighter who had stepped in for the injured Alptekin Ozkillic on short notice. “I felt like a little bit more pressure was on me than him, because he comes in, fights the number 13 guy, win or lose, he puts his name out there.”

“For me, if I had lost that fight, it would have been a huge setback for me I felt like,” the 25 year-old Ortiz added. “So, I probably put a little bit more pressure on myself than I needed to for this fight, but I went out there and fought, made the adjustments during the fight that I felt like I had to, and came out with the win.”

Ortiz had been scheduled to fight Ozkillic on April 11th at UFC Fight Night 39, but in at the beginning of the month, it was announced the latter would be unable to compete. Then, on the 11th, it was confirmed that Ortiz would fight Borg eight days later at UFC on FOX 11.

“A little bit, yeah, it did a little bit,” said Ortiz, when asked if the change in opponent, as well as the fight date, affected him heading into the bout. “I didn’t want it to, but I was in the middle of training and got the word the fight was off. So, immediately it was like dang, I worked so hard, I put a lot of work, a lot of time, a lot of energy into something and it just kind of got cancelled.”

Dustin Ortiz (via Twitter / @DustinOrtizMMA)

 

“I knew I needed to stay ready, and I talked to my management, my coach, they were just like ‘you know they’re going to try to get you another fight lined up right away,” added Ortiz. “So it was a struggle just to stay in between do I have a fight, do I not have a fight, should I keep training? Do I go eat? That was kind of the biggest thing…staying on weight for a week, without knowing if you’re fighting or not, is kind of draining.”

While Ortiz’s camp was hit with some uncertainty, eventually, the Roufusport fighter admits things fell into place.

“Once we got the opponent, and had everything figured out, I could reprogram and make the adjustments I needed to make for the fight. So it ended up turning out to be perfect. I didn’t have 17 hours of flying ahead of me and stuff like” furthered Ortiz, who had been scheduled to face Ozkillic in Abu Dhabi. “It worked out great.”

Although Borg incurred his first pro loss at UFC on FOX 11, the 20 year-old did nothing but impress during his Octagon debut. After all, one of the three judges scored the bout in the New Mexico fighter’s favor.

“Absolutely, he’s young, he’s had a great career so far, he’s strong,” said Ortiz, while discussing whether he sees Borg having a promising future. “Honestly that’s where I was last year, two years ago, undefeated, finishing guys…he’s in the UFC already and I think he’s 20 years old or something, he’s fighting top, top guys now, so it’s harder to get those finishes in the first round, second round…he’s going to be there, he’s just going to learn and get better.”

 

posted by FCF Staff @ 8:00 am
Have a comment about this story? Please share with us by filling out the fields below.

Comments are closed.