Brian Ortega had bigger goals in mind as he accepted his upcoming bout with Diego Lopez.
A high-level featherweight showdown between Ortega and Lopez is scheduled to be the co-main event of UFC 303 on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. While some might expect Ortega to be attracted by the big payday, “T-City” claims the UFC 303 fight money won’t be that different from the average payday at UFC. Ortega revealed there was another reason he accepted the fight against Lopez.
Ortega, who has been vocal about mental health in the past, attended a men’s mental health camp at his church. After enjoying the camp with his kids, Ortega was told by his pastor that he needed to raise $100,000 to keep the camp going. The offer to face Lopez couldn’t come at a better time for the former UFC featherweight title contender.
“Of course, my salary has changed a little bit, but it’s not as much as I thought it would be,” Ortega told Shakiel Majli. “I’m already making that much money…I’ve been to men’s camps and I’ve seen a lot of men change their lives…All of the men [about] They go through the pain, they talk about what’s going on, what’s bothering them, and we had a men’s camp about it. Over 160 people attended. We all attended, and I brought my kids along. It was fun. It was a life-changing experience. And Pastor Jeremy said to me, “Look, I want you to know that my goal is to make this better, but to do that, I need to raise $100,000.
“And for some reason, I just couldn’t get it out of my head. So I thought, ‘Hey, I’ve got to make it my mission to save all these guys or help them get saved’ … So, God was calling me to fight this battle and then to help these guys after the battle.”
Ortega is fresh off a submission win over Yair Rodriguez in a rematch at UFC Mexico City in February, bouncing back from a two-fight slump that included a hard-fought title loss to Alexander Volkanovski followed by an unfortunate injury-shortened loss to Rodriguez.
