The only times UFC star Brian Ortega has lost in his professional MMA career is to reigning, historically great champions (and once because of a freak injury). Having lost to Max Holloway back in their UFC 231 clash in 2018 and to Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 266 in 2021, ‘T-City’ is never far from a 145-pound title shot. One reason for this is his world-class grappling skills, having earned his black belt under Rener Gracie of the legendary Gracie clan.

Another reason for his performances is that he has the heart of a warrior. And his big heart is apparent not only in the octagon but also outside it, as his recent actions have proven.

The exact reason behind Brian Ortega’s shaved head

Brian Ortega is famous for his excellent BJJ and flowing locks. This is why it was so surprising for fans to see him with a completely bald head ahead of his UFC 2020 Fight Night main event clash against ‘The Korean Zombie’ Chan Sung Jung. While fans were expecting Ortega to make changes in his game after his previous fight against Max Holloway, which he lost in a pretty one-sided manner, the fans weren’t quite ready to see him without his luscious, flowing locks.

Many fans speculated that this may have been a last-ditch attempt to get him to make weight, but that turned out not to be the case. ‘T-City’ had shaved off his hair for charity. The Mexican-American had been spending a lot of time with child cancer patients and had been visiting them in hospitals.

Seeing them struggle with their health and body image issues had a lasting effect on Ortega. This is why he ultimately decided to shave off his hair and donate it to children going through chemotherapy.

While he isn’t donating his hair after his next fight, the UFC star will donate a significant amount of money to a charity after having a ‘life-changing’ experience with them.

Ortega vows to donate six figures after UFC 303

Brian Ortega will face Diego Lopes in the co-main event of UFC 303 on June 29. Originally, the spot was booked for a Jamahal Hill vs. Carlos Ulberg light heavyweight clash, but the former suffered a litany of injuries, forcing him to pull out barely two weeks from the International Fight Week card.

The UFC called Ortega to see if he would be interested in replacing the co-main event bout for the T-Mobile Arena Las Vegas card. And ‘T-City’ accepted the short-notice fight, for one ‘main’ reason: so he could donate $100k to ‘The Fearless Church’. Ortega had recently taken part in the Church’s ‘Man Camp’, which is committed to providing a “powerful and transformational experience for all Fearless men,” according to their website.

The fighter took part in the camp along with his children and described the experience as “life-changing” where “a lot of men got saved.”  This has moved the Mexican American to a profound spiritual level and he wants to financially contribute to the program because “I want that for more people.”

“If I can donate $100,000 and make that happen this year on a bigger surface. It was just 160 people. If I can make that happen with 300, 400, 500 people, that’s what I’m going to do, and that’s why I took this fight,” Ortega told MMA Junkie in a recent interview.

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