Brian Ortega

On my block, I had all these guys coming in and out of jail. When I was 13, I was playing outside my house, and one of those guys came across the street and started cussing me out, wanting to fight me. People knew I trained kickboxing and would put the gloves on with my friends, so that made me a target. ”

I'm the kind of guy who, if you tell me you can't do something, like, 'Brian, you can't do a backflip off that two-floor building,' and I'm going to give it a shot. ”

I'm not picky; I'll get it how I can take it. Submission, KO - whatever it is, if it has me winning, I'll take it. ”

Cub Swanson's a guy you either get through or you don't, and I fought him when he was on a nice winning streak. ”

I want to help make the world a better place. ”

When I go in the Octagon, it's no big deal. Just gonna go fight. Majority of the people? 'Dude, I'm scared to even walk through there.' Everything's a matter of perspective. ”

I've proven I can hang in there, go through adversity, and pull tricks out of the bag. ”

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 really love to help kids that are struggling and going through a tough time, and I want to be a positive light on them. ”

You know how it is: you're a kid, and you see your parents do something, you tend not to want to follow that and do your own thing. ”