Brian Ortega opens up about changes made ahead of Chan Sung Jung fight

Following his first professional loss, Brian Ortega has surrounded himself with a new team.

Other than longtime jiu-jitsu coach and mentor Rener Gracie, Ortega has switched up his coaching staff and management ahead of his Oct. 17 headliner vs. Chan Sung Jung.

Ortega (14-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) now trains out of the Huntington Beach Ultimate Training Center alongside the likes of former UFC bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw, top Bellator contender Juan Archuleta, and respected veteran Cub Swanson.

It’s been almost two years since Ortega last competed, when he was stopped by then-UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway in December 2018. Injuries have forced him on the sidelines.

Ortega has been ready to return for awhile, but  the matchup was pushed back to October due to the spread of COVID-19, travel restrictions and eye surgery for Jung.

A lot has changed for Ortega since his last fight, but he has enjoyed the transition and is excited to show off a new version of himself.

“It’s been smooth just because the way I learn is exactly perfect to their teachings,” Ortega told MMA Junkie. “They teach very slow, methodical, step-by-step details and breakdown, and me being an instructor under Rener, I really had to study and there’s a certain way I understand information and their abilities to simulate that and teach to that style was great.

“Like Jason Park teaches amazing, Paul Herrera teaches good, all the people that I have on my team they’re good at breaking it down and basically explaining the what, how’s, why’s of the techniques and letting me use it during battle or sparring and test it out.”

Prior to the Holloway loss, Ortega was on a roll. He had finished his past six opponents, becoming the first man to stop Frankie Edgar along the way.

The formula worked well for Ortega, but with the pressure of the win streak off, it’s allowed him to go back to the drawing board and go back to learning again.

“It was a lot of pressure,” Ortega said. “People expect you to do things. When you’re expected to do things and perform and finish everyone and everything – people don’t understand because I did it so smoothly and it was working with great success, but the pressure was there. I have a great poker face, but don’t get twisted, I had the weight of the world on my shoulders. I had people I carried on my back all the way to the top and it was a lot of weight on me so for that to be finally done with, to finally be able to go back in there and know that it’s OK to lose.

“I feel like a lot of us, at least for me, I forgot that losing is the reason why I became so good at this entire sport because every time I would go in there, I would lose a fight or I would lose during training, and I would learn from it and I would adapt to it, but I got used to basically winning in training that you kind of just went into this world of I can’t lose, I have to do this, I have to be this and the things in my mind and coaching wise were very much of that nature so now to back to the roots of what made me me is a lot of trial, error and getting better.

“So now the pressure is gone, I can go back to training and losing to my training partners and knowing it’s OK and adjusting and getting better.”