Tracy Cortez claims Valentina Shevchenko doesn't want to fight champion at the Sphere as she eyes an all-Mexican affair
07/09/2024 07:05 AM
Tracy Cortez is less than a week out from her first UFC main event as she takes on former strawweight champion Rose Namajunas in the main event of UFC Denver this coming Saturday.
Tracy Cortez was originally preparing for a fight against Miranda Maverick on July 20, but the promotion offered her a big step up and the biggest opportunity of her career thus far, to step in to fight Rose Namajunas this coming Saturday.
‘Thug’ Rose was originally scheduled to take on Maycee Barber in the main event of UFC Denver, but Barber withdrew just a few weeks out.
Tracy Cortez is hoping to fight for the title at the Sphere
On September 14, the UFC is hosting their second Noche UFC event, but this time from the Sphere in Las Vegas for UFC 306.
The event is set to be one of the biggest combat sports events ever, and Cortez is hoping she can get on it.
Current women’s flyweight champion, Alexa Grasso, is rumored to be defending her title on the card against Valentina Shevchenko, as they look to settle their trilogy following their coaching roles on the current season of The Ultimate Fighter.
Despite that, Cortez believes that she will be next to fight for the 125lb title if she beats Namajunas, claiming that Shevchenko doesn’t want to fight at the Sphere.
“I would say I will be next. I heard that Valentina (Shevchenko) doesn’t want to fight Alexa at the Sphere so after this fight, whether it’s for the women’s badest female fighter or just to put on a great show for Mexican Independence Day, I would love to fight Alexa (Grasso),” Cortez said on The MMA Hour.
The 30-year-old is currently riding an 11-fight win streak and is making her way up the flyweight rankings. A win over a name like Namajunas would undeniably put her in a great position, and whether it’s for the title or not, she wants to fight at UFC 306.
“There’s nothing more honorable for me to want to fight and put on a show for my people,” Cortez continued.
Cortez opens up about career doubts and injuries following off-roading accident
The Mexican hasn’t fought since September last year, at the last Noche UFC event when she beat Jasmine Jasudavicius.
Cortez has opened up that following that win, she began to have doubts about her MMA career because of things that kept going against her in her personal life.
“A lot of things were going on outside of my career that just kept postponing or just making my career difficult for me to move forward in and it was just one of those things where I kind of just, I was trying really hard to, not control my career but navigate it in a certain way, and I finally just let go,” Cortez added.
Following her win over Jasudavicius, Cortez got involved in a bad off-roading accident that kept her on the sidelines for even longer than she wanted to be.
“We got into a really bad accident, a really bad accident. And I for whatever reason was the one that came out the worst, the worst. I was bruised, chipped tooth, black eyes, I had a big old almost like a hematoma, it was bad and it took me some time to recover from that.”
The 30-year-old is confident that on Saturday night, she will finish ‘Thug’ Rose, which would be her first finish during her UFC tenure.
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