UFC star Brian Ortega’s past romantic relationship with flyweight Tracy Cortez was rockier than fans, pundits, and fighters were led to believe.
During the UFC’s illustrious history, there have been a few ‘power couples’ on the roster, including some coach/fighter relationships. Former UFC title challengers Thiago Santos and Yana Kunitskaya, along with Amanda and Nina Nunes, are just a few examples of couples you don’t want to mess with.
Former UFC featherweight title challenger Brian Ortega and women’s flyweight star Tracy Cortez were once an item, before an abrupt, and rumored, messy breakup. But the two have kept a relatively cordial relationship over the past year despite their public split.
According to Ortega, his current cordiality with Cortez took a long time to develop, after what he described as a toxic romantic pairing.
Brian Ortega’s Mom warned him about ‘never being at peace’ with Tracy Cortez
In a recent appearance on Dominick Cruz’s Love & War podcast, Ortega opened up on his highly-publicized relationship with Cortez at the height of their UFC stardom.
“That was rough, and not to sound bad, but I think she got lucky at the right time in my life,” Ortega said of Cortez.
“I started listening to myself…and when I was listening to certain teachings, we just kind of grew apart. I met [Tracy] and I thought we could start from scratch, ‘Power Couple’ this and that, and then shortly into that, I was like ‘D***, I f***** up’. But because I already left the kids and the family [before], everyone was going to laugh at me, so it was the ego again. So I put up with all the craziness even though I knew four months in [it wasn’t going to work].
“I was never at peace,” Ortega continued. “My mother and my family were like ‘We don’t want a part of you, we’re disappointed in you’. I thought they were just mad that I left, but then she said, ‘The worst thing that can happen to a Mom is seeing her son being with someone like that…who that girl is, can she change? I hope she does. But who she is now, you’ll never be at peace’. Training camps were horrible. The Volkanovski fight? Horrible. Arguing and just dumb nonsense at 3 or 4 in the morning…now guys like Alex Pereira are starting to realize that [she’s crazy].”
Ortega is referring to Cortez’s brief, albeit public, relationship with former UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira. Just days after Cortez shared photos of Pereira and her celebrating New Year’s Eve together, the two opted to break up, albeit in a cordial fashion.
Cortez and Ortega are both looking to get back on track in their UFC careers after recent setbacks. Ortega hasn’t fought since a loss to Aljamain Sterling at UFC Shanghai, while Cortez hasn’t competed since a UFC 322 loss to Erin Blanchfield.
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