Dana White expects Alexander Volkanovski to defend title against Brian Ortega at UFC 266
It appears as if a new date has been set for the upcoming title fight between UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski and former title challenger Brian Ortega.
According to UFC President Dana White, Volkanovski and Ortega, who coached against each other on the current season of The Ultimate Fighter, are expected to meet at UFC 266 on September 4.
“Yeah, that is [UFC] 266,” White told Submission Radio (H/T MMAFighting) when asked whether or not he could confirm that the fight would be taking place on that card.
Originally, Volkanovski and Ortega were slated to fight at UFC 260 this past March in Las Vegas, but Volkanovski then tested positive for COVID-19 and was forced to withdraw from the bout. The postponement then led to the two signings on as coaches of The Ultimate Fighter.
The Australian, Alexander Volkanovski is 22-1 as a professional mixed martial artist and is currently riding a 19-fight winning streak. Since joining the UFC in 2016, he’s gone 9-0 and has beaten notable names like Chad Mendes and Jose Aldo.
More recently, Volkanovski has scored back-to-back victories over former titleholder Max Holloway, winning the title in their first meeting at UFC 245 and then defending it in their rematch at UFC 251.
On the other hand, Ortega is 15-1 as a professional and returned in 2020 after a two-year layoff to score a dominant victory over former title challenger Chan Sung Jung. Before his layoff, Ortega had challenged Holloway for the 145-pound title at UFC 231 in 2018, but he was stopped in the fourth round of a very one-sided fight.
UFC 266 is currently set to be headlined by a light heavyweight title fight between champion Jan Blachowicz and challenger Glover Teixeira. However, as of now, a location and venue for the event have not yet been determined.
“266, we don’t know yet,” White said. “Everything looks like it’s going in the right direction. I don’t know about Canada and Australia, but everything else looks like it’s going in the right direction.”
