"How dare you put me in danger again?" - Alexander Volkanovski breaks down Brian Ortega's triangle choke at UFC 266

Alexander Volkanovski looks back at his UFC 266 clash against Brian Ortega [Image courtesy - Volkanovski (left) - ufc.com; Ortega and Volkanovski (right) - Getty]

Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega went to war at UFC 266 last year. The fight turned out to be a back-and-forth barnburner. In the end, it was 'The Great' who emerged victorious via unanimous decision. However, the Australian had to overcome a considerable amount of adversity to retain the featherweight title on the night.

The third round of the fight was a nail-biter, with Ortega managing to put the champ in a vicious chokehold not once but twice. The first time, it was a very deep guillotine choke and the second time, a triangle choke from off his back.

Alex Volkanovski describes his level of concern on Brian Ortega’s two submission attempts in Round 3

The champ admits the guillotine was:
“f—ing tight”

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📺 Full #UFC266 interview:
youtu.be/As0Os13Fdow https://t.co/Xo3T8Gz6yR

The chokeholds were locked deep each time and it looked like Volkanovski was about to fade. However, he somehow managed to wriggle his way out on both occasions and even punished Ortega with brutal ground-and-pound strikes to finish the round. Looking back at the fight, 'The Great' broke down how he managed to escape the triangle choke.

During an appearance on Fox Sports' Main Event, he said:

"I tried to posture up and went on the wrong leg there and he capitalized and threw me off balance so now I'll try to get posture that way. The only way I could open up is you see me using my knees and my hands to open him up, pulling down on the knee to make space, you see the gap there but it was purely 'Oh, I got the space.' That's nowhere near as deep as the the guillotine but then, as soon as I knew that it was done, he was going to try and improve his position, I was already nullifying where he was going to go and going to capitalize and get on top and rain bombs again. How dare you put me in danger again?"

Check out Volkanovski's breakdown of his UFC 266 clash with Ortega below:

When is Alexander Volkanovski's next title defense?

Alexander Volkanovski is currently set to defend his title against Chang Sung Jung in the main event of UFC 273 on April 9. The pay-per-view event will take place at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.

𝐓𝐖𝐎 𝐓𝐈𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒!

🏆 @AlexVolkanovski vs @KoreanZombieMMA 🏆
🏆 @FunkmasterMMA vs @PetrYanUFC 2 🏆

📺📱 #UFC273 | April 10 | Live on PPV! https://t.co/0iwd51hhkv

Volkanovski was initially scheduled to defend his title in a trilogy fight against Max Holloway at UFC 272. However, since 'Blessed' was forced to withdraw due to injury, he was replaced by 'The Korean Zombie'. 'The Great' has suffered just one defeat in his entire career and is currently on a 10 fight winning streak in the UFC.

Alexander Volkanovski is heading into the fight as a favorite. Should he emerge victorious in his next outing, the Australian might be hoping to line up a potential super fight with Conor McGregor.