The No. 9 UFC strawweight Marina Rodriguez (12-0-1) broke into the top 10 recently and will be headlining the co-main event at UFC Washington D.C when she faces No. 10 Cynthia Calvillo (8-1) on Saturday night, yet her approach hasn’t changed.

“Whether ranked or not, the most important thing for us is to display a good performance in the octagon,” Rodriguez said in Portuguese. “Our focus is on the work and the opportunities that the UFC is giving us so far.”

“Fighting in the co-main event of the night is different, but we treat it naturally,” she said. “We don’t let anything external interfere with our plan, we are focused on what we’ve trained.”

Marina Rodriguez vs. Jessica Aguilar

Rodriguez became the replaced opponent for Calvillo, after Claudia Gadelha suffered an ankle injury. After defeating Tecia Torres, Rodriguez’s corner pushed negotiations so that the strawweight could tally her third fight of the year.

“We mended our camp after my last fight because we knew we would have a chance to fight in December,” Rodriguez said. “We were ready to receive that fight.”

“I believe that Calvillo, being a tough athlete, will come to the fight standing. This will be incredible for all the public because surely we will see who can stand the most, and who will come out with the victory.”

Thai Brasil’s head coach Marcio Malko said that Marina is not in the UFC to be a simple fighter who’s just occupying space.

“Marina is a fighter who was made to fight in the UFC, but we have to get more UFC fights. I believe three to five more fights, we will have the best version of Marina Rodriguez in any area of MMA,” Malko said.

“We work every day thinking about it, with a lot of work we will conquer [this division].”

Share this: Facebook

Twitter

Email

