Brian Ortega

“I saw my first UFC fight when I was 15 and figured, 'This is what I want to do when I grow up.'”

“I want to secure my name. I'll fight who I have to fight for the belt.”

“Sometimes I wish I could just fight at 155 pounds.”

“I knew what I wanted to do with my life: I wanted to fight.”

“I don't look like a fighter. I like it, though, because it just allows me to be in the position I am now, to where I can venture out to wherever I want to go. I can go into acting. I can go into this; I can go different ways now. And because of fighting, I can do that.”

“My whole life, I thought I sucked. And then I get in here, and I grapple other people, and I'm like, 'I'm actually good.'”

“Every time, you get hit in the face, you have to fight.”

“There's always a way to pull back and discredit ourselves, but once you just shut that out and start doing it, you realize things about yourself that you never thought were possible.”

“I've always wanted better for myself; I just didn't know what route I was going to take.”

“I come from a city where we really didn't have too many role models.”

“That's always been my problem - the lack of fear in some situations.”

“For me, I love doing what is said can't be done.”

“I've been doing charity work since I'm 20 years old, and now I want to help kids.”

“I keep training hard, keep working out, keep looking at my fights, and I wonder, 'If I was to fight me, how would I beat me?' It's like having a boat with a bunch of holes. I'm trying to patch up all the holes. If I was to fight myself, I'd take advantage of certain things. I've got to know my opponent is thinking the same thing.”

“The people around me saved my life, not MMA. It was people who said, 'You're better than this,' who told me, 'You don't belong in this world.' MMA and jiu-jitsu and training gave me an escape.”

“I'll do things that a lot of people think is very risky.”

“My house always had at least 14 people in it. And one bathroom. So I didn't really want to be home.”

“It's a little weird: you're headlining a show on TV, and obviously, people like to associate that with material things. I drive a - what is it - 1999 Chevy Blazer. There's no more cushion on the driver's seat, and the tires are about gone.”

“All I do is just live in the gym.”

“Obviously it's great to train at home and not have to travel and stay in the same time zone. That's always great.”