Outside Source
Ortega met Cortez in 2020 shortly after he left his previous wife Stephanie Ortega and their two sons. Shortly after getting into a relationship with Cortez, Ortega knew that he had made a mistake. However, Ortega’s ego was too big to leave Cortez and return to his family as he was afraid of being laughed at.
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“Shortly into that, I was like ‘Damn, I f—d up.’ But because I already left the kids, left the family, I was like, ‘If I dump her right now, everyone’s gonna laugh at me.’ So it was the ego again,” Ortega told Dominick Cruz on the “Love & War” podcast podcast. “I thought I can’t let people laugh at me, so I’m gonna put up with all the craziness… I knew it four months in.”
Ortega (16-5) and Cortez (12-3) finally broke up amidst public drama in 2023. Ortega claims his mother had warned him about Cortez in the beginning of their relationship. While Ortega initially thought his mother was just sour, “T-City” realized with time he was not compatible with Cortez. Ortega’s mother had allegedly told him that he would never find peace, which he claims he never did with Cortez. Ortega allegedly had a terrible fight camp, arguing with Cortez over petty stuff, going into his unsuccessful featherweight title challenge against Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 266 in 2021. Ortega claims Cortez wouldn’t even leave when he initially asked her to. Cortez recently had a short-lived romance with Alex Pereira after breaking up with Ortega. Pereira officially announced the breakup days after they were publicly spotted together earlier this year. Ortega believes guys like Pereira quickly realized why he parted ways with Cortez.
Never at Peace
“Finally I had enough and gave myself a Christmas present and said, ‘You gotta leave on Christmas.’ My Mom, my family, the second they saw me with [Cortez], they were like, ‘We don’t want any part of you.’… The worst thing that can happen to my mom is to see her son with someone like that,” Ortega said. “At that time I thought she was just being a hater. And then as I started living that kind of life, she was like, ‘Son, you’ll never be at peace.’…I was never at peace. Training camps were horrible. The Volkanovski fight – horrible. Arguing over nonsense at 3-4 in the morning. I was like bro, this girl is [crazy]. Finally, I’m like, ‘Get out of here, leave.’ And she wouldn’t leave…It wasn’t for me. Now guys like Alex Pereira are starting to realize that.”
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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