Video: Alexander Volkanovski calls Brian Ortega ‘a f—king drug cheat’ at UFC 266 pre-fight press conference

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Featherweight champion, Alex Volkanovski, has zero respect for Brian Ortega heading into UFC 266.

Volkanovski vs. Ortega serves as the main event of UFC 266, which will take place inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, this weekend (Sat., Sept. 25, 2021), streaming online via ESPN+ pay-per-view (PPV). The typically reserved Volkanovski had a lot to say about Ortega during the press conference (watch highlights above) and when the fighters faced off (watch all staredowns here).

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“I ain’t scared of you — we are going in the cage anyway,” Volkanovski told Ortega during Thursday’s staredown. “Mate, I didn’t know about you popping, that s—t don’t sit well with me, you don’t deserve to be here. You are a f—king drug cheat, that’s it, done.”

Volkanovski’s face-off comments mirrored his feelings toward Ortega earlier in the evening.

“To be honest, [he’s] obviously unprofessional,” Volkanovski told reporters on Thursday of working with Ortega on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 29 (h/t MMA Junkie). “I’ve said it all week. Unprofessional and weakness, you know what I mean? What upsets me the most is (he’s) unprofessional. I put the hard yards in my whole life, especially in this career. That’s how I got this belt.

“I just see weakness, unprofessional,” he added. “Obviously, showing weakness a few years back popping [for PEDs], producing, that sh*t annoys me. It’s unprofessional and I ain’t about that s—t.”

Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 266 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance on ESPNEWS/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

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