Brian Ortega staged one of the most creative and memorable walkouts in recent memory, with his coaches marching to the cage accompanied by horror movie-inspired masks and music. purge. But the real story behind that admission actually came from a much darker place as he prepared to fight Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 266.
It turns out Ortega was experiencing frequent disturbances at his apartment while preparing to compete for the UFC featherweight title around the time of his main event in September 2021. Unfortunately for the fighter, a noisy neighbor living upstairs prevented Ortega from getting the rest he needed at night after a long day at the gym.
“I was living in an apartment at the time,” Ortega explained during media day for UFC 303. “I had moved out during a separation, left everything behind, and I had a neighbor upstairs. [making noise] Every hour, like 2 a.m., 3 a.m., 4 a.m., I was like, “Hey, is everybody sleeping? What's going on? Man, I have fights to train for, I just won a world title. What are you guys doing?”
“I was looking at some reels or something. [on Instagram] and purge The song came on and I started daydreaming. Not the best, but if purge If that were the case, I would go upstairs first.”
purge A 2013 horror film written and directed by James DeMonaco. It depicts a dystopian future in which crime has almost completely disappeared in the United States due to a one-night-a-year event called “The Purge.” During this event, all criminal acts, including murder, become completely legal for 12 hours. In the film, loud sirens are sounded across the United States to announce the start of the Purge.
Listen to the remix featuring Siren purgeOrtega began to think about what he would do if all crime were suddenly and temporarily legal, especially to his neighbors.
“I'm not a snitch or a complainer, but I've said to my landlord, 'Hey, can you please be quiet?'” Ortega said. “I've been snitched on before because I was playing a little rough with my kids. Like, I ran around once and I was like, 'I'm going to kill you!' and they started screaming and wanted to call the police because they thought I was going to kill them. It wasn't that crazy for me because that's how we play, but I didn't say anything. And finally, hey, whoever that is over there, I don't want to be rude, but hang on a sec, it looks like you've been dragging something across the floor all night. Let me know if you need help!”
“After I complained, it continued like that, like they doubled down on it. So I just thought, if purge If that's the case, I'll just go upstairs and take care of business.”
As the trouble with his upstairs neighbors continued, Ortega kept playing out the same scenario over and over in his head, eventually purge It's to create a really cool exit scene for the Volkanovski fight.
“I don't know why, but it kept me up all night. purge“I found a remix of that song and I was like, if I had a mask, what mask would I wear to commit a crime,” Ortega confessed. “How would I approach their house? That was the concept. What would happen if I put my hood up, put on this glowing mask, and went outside? Wouldn't that be cool?”
He ultimately channeled his disdain for his neighbors into strikes, $5 masks and a music selection that UFC actually changed before he headed to the Octagon.
“The original song was a little bit scarier,” Ortega says, “a little bit more realistic, so I thought it would be nice to give everyone in the audience a little scare.”
The UFC rejected this version of the song, but he was allowed to use a different remix. purge Sirens sounded to give him a memorable exit.
The coaches were dressed exactly the same, and Ortega said his entourage definitely understood the theme he had in mind.
“I told them I wanted to kill my neighbor,” Ortega said, “and at the time, that was the theme, the idea behind it. I called my manager and everybody and told them my idea, and they were like, OK, let's do it.
“As far as the conversation goes, this is one of the best strikes ever. It worked.”
