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History · 2021 · UFC 266: Volkanovski vs. Ortega · Alexander Volkanovski vs Brian Ortega
From the tape · 25 Sep 2021

Alexander Volkanovski vs Brian Ortega

UFC 266: Volkanovski vs. Ortega · Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Result

Alexander Volkanovski beat Brian Ortega

Method
Decision - Unanimous
Round
5 of 5
Clock
5:00
Featherweight TitleTitle fightMainReferee · Herb DeanFOTN

We published no prediction for this bout. Everything on this page is the official record and the tape it was fought on — the result, the round-by-round counts, the judges’ cards where they exist and the sportsbook line where one was published. Our graded calls start in 2026 and live on the public record.

Red corner AlexanderVolkanovski“The Great”Born in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia · Fights out of Windang, New South Wales, Australia
VSOn the tape
Blue corner BrianOrtega“T-City”Born in Los Angeles, California, United States · Fights out of Los Angeles, California, United States
Featherweight Title5 rounds25 Sep 2021At the time: Featherweight champion vs #2 · rankings of 20 September 2021
The story going in
  • Comes in on a 9-fight win streak.
  • Has finished 6 of 7 UFC wins.
  • Has finished 3 of 9 UFC wins.
28-4
Record
16-5
32
Age
−2 yr30
5' 6"
Height
+2″5' 8"
+2″71″
Reach
69″
Orthodox
Stance
Switch
9
UFC bouts
9
3/933% of wins
Finishes
+52%6/786% of wins
Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
Born in
Los Angeles, California, United States
Windang, New South Wales, Australia
Fights out of
Los Angeles, California, United States
Vitals, record, nickname and camp come from the public UFC fighter register and are current, not a snapshot of fight night. UFC bouts, finish rate and every storyline line are counted off the official UFC fight record. A tick marks the side holding the raw edge in that row — longer reach, taller, younger, more bouts, a higher finish rate. It is a fact about the tape, not a prediction, and rows with no clean comparison (record, stance, gym, hometown) carry no tick at all. Any row we cannot fill on both sides is left out rather than half-drawn. Where a fighter was born and where they fight out of come from their Wikipedia entry; where we hold neither, the hometown shown is Sherdog’s. Streaks, bout counts and finish rates are as they stood going into this fight — this bout and everything after it is excluded from the count.

Round by round

Every round the fight went, shaded by where the significant strikes actually landed — the takedowns, control time and knockdowns beside them, and how the three judges scored that round.

UFCStats · per round

5 rounds of tape

Round 15:00 of action
Alexander Volkanovski30 sig landed
HEAD47%14 of 32BODY17%5 of 7LEGS37%11 of 13
Brian Ortega16 sig landed
HEAD56%9 of 39BODY19%3 of 5LEGS25%4 of 7
30 of 52
Sig.
strikes
16 of 51
0 of 0
Take-
downs
0 of 0
0:00
Control
0:00
0
Sub
attempts
0
Distance 30Clinch 0Ground 0
Where it
happened
Distance 15Clinch 1Ground 0
Judges · this round · Volkanovski firstMichael Bell10–9Sal D'Amato10–9Junichiro Kamijo10–9
Round 25:00 of action
Alexander Volkanovski38 sig landed
HEAD50%19 of 38BODY13%5 of 8LEGS37%14 of 15
Brian Ortega23 sig landed
HEAD61%14 of 47BODY22%5 of 5LEGS17%4 of 6
38 of 61
Sig.
strikes
23 of 58
0 of 0
Take-
downs
0 of 0
0:03
Control
0:00
0
Sub
attempts
0
Distance 38Clinch 0Ground 0
Where it
happened
Distance 22Clinch 1Ground 0
Judges · this round · Volkanovski firstMichael Bell10–9Sal D'Amato10–9Junichiro Kamijo10–9
Round 35:00 of action2 sub attempts
Alexander Volkanovski61 sig landed
HEAD75%46 of 81BODY5%3 of 3LEGS20%12 of 15
Brian Ortega17 sig landed
HEAD71%12 of 32BODY29%5 of 8LEGS0%0 landed
61 of 99
Sig.
strikes
17 of 40
0 of 0
Take-
downs
1 of 1
1:13
Control
0:41
0
Sub
attempts
2
Distance 30Clinch 0Ground 31
Where it
happened
Distance 15Clinch 2Ground 0
Judges · this round · Volkanovski firstMichael Bell10–9Sal D'Amato10–9Junichiro Kamijo10–9
Round 45:00 of action1 sub attempt
Alexander Volkanovski35 sig landed
HEAD80%28 of 50BODY3%1 of 2LEGS17%6 of 6
Brian Ortega6 sig landed
HEAD83%5 of 13BODY17%1 of 1LEGS0%0 of 1
35 of 58
Sig.
strikes
6 of 15
0 of 0
Take-
downs
1 of 2
2:33
Control
0:13
0
Sub
attempts
1
Distance 13Clinch 0Ground 22
Where it
happened
Distance 6Clinch 0Ground 0
Judges · this round · Volkanovski firstMichael Bell10–9Sal D'Amato10–8Junichiro Kamijo10–9
Round 55:00 of actionEnded 5:00
Alexander Volkanovski50 sig landed
HEAD78%39 of 69BODY12%6 of 6LEGS10%5 of 8
Brian Ortega26 sig landed
HEAD73%19 of 62BODY23%6 of 7LEGS4%1 of 1
50 of 83
Sig.
strikes
26 of 70
0 of 0
Take-
downs
0 of 2
0:02
Control
0:00
0
Sub
attempts
0
Distance 47Clinch 3Ground 0
Where it
happened
Distance 24Clinch 2Ground 0
Judges · this round · Volkanovski firstMichael Bell9–10Sal D'Amato10–9Junichiro Kamijo10–9

Significant strikes, takedowns, control time, knockdowns and submission attempts exactly as UFCStats recorded them for this bout, round by round. Zone percentages are that round’s landed head, body and leg counts over their own total — raw arithmetic, nothing modelled or smoothed. A round in which a fighter landed nothing shades empty and reads zero; it is never filled in from the round before.

The cards, totalled

The judges’ final totals, the media’s cards beside them, and how these judges usually score. Their round-by-round 10–9s are with the rounds above.

Official card

Unanimous Decision

Referee · Herb Dean
Alexander VolkanovskiBrian Ortega
Official totals — Alexander Volkanovski first
JudgeTotal
Michael Bell49–46
Sal D'Amato2.1 avg spread · 46% wide50–44
Junichiro Kamijo2.0 avg spread · 43% wide50–45

Each judge’s round-by-round scores sit with the round they belong to, in the round-by-round section above — switch a round there and the three cards for it change with the stats.

Media cards — 20 scored, Alexander Volkanovski first · unofficial

MM AMania.com50–44
Jillian DeCoursey50–44
Keith Shillan Sherdog.com50–44
Phil Murphy ESPN50–45
Nick Baldwin theScore50–45
Drake Riggs SCMP MMA50–45
MM AJunkie.com50–45
Scott Fontana New York Post49–44
Dayne Fox BloodyElbow.com49–45
Jay Pettry Sherdog.com49–45
Sheehan SevereMMA.com49–45
Matthew Wells MMAJunkie.com49–45
John Pollock POST Wrestling49–45
Combat Press.com49–45
Michael DeSantis MMASucka.com49–46
Ryan Frederick WrestlingObserver.com49–46
Brian Knapp Sherdog.com49–46
Tristen Critchfield Sherdog.com49–46
Paul Fontaine WrestlingObserver.com48–47
Jed Meshew MMAFighting.com47–46

Fan vote · unofficial

50-44 Volkanovski · 24%49-45 Volkanovski · 23%49-46 Volkanovski · 14%50-45 Volkanovski · 11%48-47 Volkanovski · 7%

677 fan cards submitted to MMA Decisions.

Official cards come from the UFCStats fight record and MMA Decisions. Media cards and the fan vote are MMA Decisions’ own collection and are not official. Judge tendency figures are that judge’s whole recorded history, not this bout — they are context for how a card was scored, never a claim that it was scored wrongly.

Takedowns

Takedowns

The level change — head to head

Career UFC takedown rates. Red corner left, blue corner right.

Alexander Volkanovski

1.63takedowns / 15 min
1.63 / 15m
TAKEDOWNS
0.93 / 15m
4.79 / 15m
ATTEMPTS
3.72 / 15m
34%
ACCURACY
25%
0.20 / 15m
SUB ATT
0.90 / 15m

Brian Ortega

0.93takedowns / 15 min

Career UFC takedown rates exactly as UFCStats publishes them: takedowns landed per 15 minutes, completion rate, submission attempts per 15 minutes, and the share of takedowns tried on them that they stuffed. Attempts per 15 is the one derived figure — landed ÷ completion rate — and it is omitted wherever either input is missing. UFCStats writes 0% where no attempt was recorded at all, so a percentage of exactly zero reads “n/a” here rather than as a measured rate. “Field” is the average fighter in that weight class, or across every division where a class is too small to average. Rate bars run to the population’s 95th percentile (6.09 takedowns / 15m); a fighter above it pins the bar. Percentages are drawn on their own axis.

Ranked in Featherweight

The market story

Where the price started and where it finished — the sportsbook consensus, with the vig removed. We captured no price series for this bout, so there is no chart to draw.

Alexander Volkanovski→ no move
open 62.8%close 62.7%
Brian Ortega→ no move
open 37.2%close 37.3%
0%50%100%
OpenClosing consensus (BFO, vig removed)

The line barely moved. Alexander Volkanovski opened at 62.8% and closed at 62.7% once the vig is taken out — a 0.1pp shift across the whole build-up. There is no line between those two points because nobody recorded one: we hold the open and the close for this bout, not the days in between.

Show the numbers
CornerOpen (US)Close (US)Open %Close %Move
Alexander Volkanovski-185-18962.8%62.7%−0.1pp
Brian Ortega16015737.2%37.3%+0.1pp
Opening and closing moneylines from BestFightOdds (data/refs/bfo_fighter_moneylines.csv), one row per fighter per bout, de-vigged pairwise so the two corners sum to 100% · scraped 2026-06-10. No price series was captured for this bout, so no line is drawn between the two points.
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