Iasmin Lucindo is in no rush to break Jon Jones' UFC record
10/04/2024 08:00 PM
Iasmin Lucindo has the chance break Jon Jones' record as the youngest UFC champion in history, but she's not treating that as a career goal.
Lucindo has won three in a row in the UFC, defeating veteran Karolina Kowalkiewicz in her most recent appearance this past May, and now faces top-ranked Marina Rodriguez at UFC 307 on Saturday night. Lucindo would need to clinch the UFC strawweight belt by Sept. 5, 2025, to break Jones' record (23 years 242 days).
"[The title shot] might come [in 2025], but I was hurried before in my life to make things happen, so now I just want to live the moment," Lucindo said in an interview with MMA Fighting. "I want to take things slow and enjoy the moment. I'm in no rush, but I want to show my work and evolution. The more fights I have before the belt, the more experienced I will be. No rush. If it comes next year, great. If it comes in three years, it's great as well."
Lucindo, who turns 23 in January, started fighting professional at age 14 after taking martial arts classes to defend her mother and aunts from domestic violence. Lucindo says that breaking Jones' record would be "awesome," but learns from mistakes made by others who have tried that in the past and failed.
"I see the new generation on a rush to make things happen, and the more you rush things up, the longer it takes," Lucindo said. "We have to respect the process. If it's meant to happen, it will. I'm here. I'm respecting the process and evolving. but if it's not meant to be, we have other records to break [laughs]."
"Also, I'm rooting for Virna to be the next champion," she continued, referring to training partner Virna Jandiroba, who faces Tatiana Suarez at UFC 310 on Dec. 7. "We joke that I'll get there when she retires. I hope Virna becomes champion because she deserves a lot. Before we started training together, she showed me it was possible, so I really want her to become champion."
Lucindo sees the Rodriguez match-up as "a great opportunity" to prove herself against one of the best strikers in the division, and admits "I didn't expect that opportunity" sitting so low in the rankings.
"I'm a striker, and every striker likes to battle, and you're definitely getting 15 minutes of war," Lucindo said. "I love challenges like this. Marina and I, that's going to be a very technical fight. She will get the best out of me, because she's a top striker. I believe I can [knock her out] but we have to be careful because we're dealing with a striker and we don't waste opportunities. I believe I have a good strategy to get that knockout."
