UFC ladies’s flyweight Tracy Cortez (11-1) enters the most important battle of her life on Saturday as she headlines UFC on ESPN 59 in opposition to former two-time strawweight titleholder Rose Namajunas. Cortez has lofty aspirations and targets that exceed a win over Namajunas (12-6).
There have been a number of ladies pioneers within the sport: Tara LaRosa, Shelby Walker, Gina Carano, and Miesha Tate, to call just some. All of them laid the way in which for Ronda Rousey to place ladies’s MMA on the mainstream map. Rousey was topped the inaugural UFC ladies’s bantamweight champion in 2012 and went on to set practically each UFC document for ladies. Cortez plans to surpass Rousey’s accomplishments.
“Everybody’s ready or the subsequent Ronda, for the subsequent Joanna [Jędrzejczyk]. Somebody unimaginable like Weili [Zhang] to remain on prime and show themselves. Somebody like Rose to experience that like Ronda did, and even myself now that I am right here,” Cortez mentioned throughout an look on The MMA Hour.
“I am very grateful for the way in which Ronda paved the way in which for ladies’s MMA. Nobody has finished it like she has. I say this humbly, I hope to surpass that,” continued Cortez.
Cortez will enter the octagon on Saturday at Ball Area in Denver, Colorado ranked eleventh within the ladies’s flyweight division. Namajunas will make the stroll to the cage ranked sixth. It will likely be Cortez’ first UFC important occasion, however she loves having stress to carry out.
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“I thrive off of stress. I’ve at all times been judged and missed and only a fairly face. I am right here now. The document speaks for itself, and I thrive off of it. I find it irresistible. I genuinely love the stress. I really feel like I carry out. I embrace it to the fullest,” Cortez mentioned.
A win over Namajunas would put Cortez squarely in contender standing, however she’s trying to be greater than only a contender. She plans to be the very best.
“I see myself being the very best. I look again at my fights in opposition to these ladies which can be killers. Killers. Black bets, they can not submit me. I am nonetheless in disbelief. That is me? Oh my God. It is simply a type of issues the place I noticed myself, I used to be watching footage of myself and I mentioned, ‘Man, I’ve the power to be the very best. I’ve what it takes,'” Cortez mentioned. “I have been coaching for this. I have been getting ready for this.”
