For the first time, Brian Ortega is speaking about his relationship with Tracy Cortez.
On a recent episode of Love & War With Dominick Cruz, the former UFC bantamweight champion asked Ortega about Cortez, and he opened up about it like never before.
“Not to sound bad, right, but like I think she got lucky at the right time in my life,” Ortega told Dominick Cruz. “I finally left all these coaches, all these relationships that I had for forever, like I started [with a] brand new slate, like things, I started listening to myself. And then I meet homegirl, and then I’m like, well, I can start from scratch. I think she understands it’s the same life that I live… and everyone was feeding all that like, ‘Dude, power couple,’ and this and that, and you’re like, ‘all right, cool, let’s do it..’ And then shortly into that I was like, ‘Damn, I f*cked up.’
“But then, because I already left the kids, left the family, it was like, ‘Damn, I already know if I dump her right now, everyone’s going to laugh at me.’ So it was the ego again. I was like, No, I don’t let people laugh at me. So I’m going to put up with all this craziness. … I knew four months in [it wouldn’t work]. Slowly but surely, then I found what the male did, and then what a woman does to you. And you’re like, ‘Oh, shit. It’s a different kind of game here.’”
Ortega and Cortez were together for a little over two years and appeared to be engaged. “T-City” says the relationship continued to get rocky, and even affected preparations for fights — including his wild championship fight with Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 266 in September 2021.
Eventually, Ortega said he needed to move on.
“Yeah, finally, I had enough, and I was like, ‘Yo, man, you gotta go,’” Ortega said. I gave myself a Christmas present and just said you got to leave on Christmas. …
“My mom, my family, the second they saw that I was with homegirl, they’re like, ‘Yo, we don’t no part of you.’ They’re like, ‘We’re disappointed in you.’ And at first, I was like, you’re just mad because I left. They’re like, ‘No bro, like, you f*cked up.’ My mom was like, ‘The worst thing that can happen to a mom is to see her son with someone like that, and at that time, I thought she was just being a hater, right? And then as I started living that kind of life, she was like, ‘Son, you’ll never be at peace.’ She goes, ‘Who that girl is? Can she change? I hope she does, but who she is now, you’ll never be at peace.’
“And as life started happening, I was like, yeah, you’re right. I was never at peace. Training camps were horrible, like the Volkanovski fight, horrible. Arguing, or the dumb nonsense at like three, four in the morning. And I was like, bro, this girl’s like… and finally I’m like, ‘Yo, get out of here. Go back to Arizona. Leave.’ And she wouldn’t leave, and I’m like, oh damn, this is crazy, and I think this is like the first time I’m kind of like saying anything about that. I’ve kind of always kept my mouth shut, but, yeah, it just wasn’t for me.”
MMA Fighting reached out to Cortez for comment, but as of now, the UFC women’s flyweight contender hasn’t responded.
Around this past holiday season, Cortez was linked with former two-division champion Alex Pereira, but the relationship ended abruptly. Ortega says he isn’t surprised.
“I think now, guys, like even Alex Pereira, like all these people, they’re starting to realize that like, OK, I put her on a pedestal, and the world is like, ‘Oh, my God,’ and then now that they’re realizing who she is, they’re like ‘Oh, nevermind.’”
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