The weight of the world on my shoulders was something that I had to let go.

Brian Ortega

Categorized in : Go Something Let Go World

I just want people to realize that it doesn't take much to be a good person. Simple things is all it takes.

good good-person simple people

Sometimes, the best response is no response.

best response sometimes

Sometimes it takes me a little longer to kick into my gears.

kick me gears sometimes

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

bag go adversity i-can

All glory to God. I'm nothing.

nothing glory god

I better be humble. I'm always checking myself.

better myself be-humble humble

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.

fight me friends people

Ultimately, I'm here to fight the best. I'm not here to stay in and get a couple paychecks. I'm here to do my best while I can and while I'm fresh and make a name for myself.

name fight best myself

I got to share the Octagon with Clay Guida. I got to share the Octagon with Cub Swanson. Now I'm going to share the Octagon with Frankie Edgar. These are things that, as a fighter, you always dream of.

you always fighter dream

As a pro, in the beginning, I had to sell tickets to get paid. So you gotta be a hustler, and you gotta worry about fighting.

beginning you fighting worry

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.

my-life me you life

I always have my group of friends at the gym. We used to go hang out somewhere before. Now we're just hanging out at the gym. We have sparring parties where everyone beats each other up, but then we all eat my dad's cooking, and I hire a massage therapist, so everyone is just kicking back and having a good time. I just keep the environment great.

great good cooking time

I've been in so many street fights.

fights street been many

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.

whatever me i-can winning

I love kids.

i-love love kids

Sometimes when you get eager, you get sloppy. Sometimes when you get sloppy, you get knocked out.

out get you sometimes

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.

something me you building

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

come city where role-models

I like super fights. I want super fights. I want guys that I can match up well where people don't know what going to happen.

know i-can want people

Pretty much, I was a hometown fighter, and everyone was pulling for me. Now I'm a hometown fighter again. It's a lot of pressure because you don't want to let people down. They're yelling your name and chanting for you.

name me you people