Kicking off her career the right way at UFC Newark, Miranda Granger is excited to be walking in the footsteps of “legends” that she idolized.
Newark, NJ — Opening up the main card of UFC Newark (UFC on ESPN 5) on Saturday afternoon were a pair of women’s flyweights making their UFC debuts. Miranda Granger and Hannah Goldy kicked off the show, with both looking to get off to a strong start in the promotion.
The end result was a hotly contested back-and-forth battle with both women landing kicks, knees, and punches. The bulk of which were hard, heavy shots. They traded right up to the final bell, and in the end, it was Miranda Granger earning a unanimous decision win. With that, she improved to 7-0 as a pro.
“I feel great, I would have liked to get the finish. But that’s not where the fight went,” Granger told reporters including Cageside Press following the bout. “I think I was the smarter fighter tonight.”
Explaining how the short-notice fight came together, Granger recalled that “two Sundays ago I was walking out of Church with my whole family. I got the call from my coach, who told me ‘I have bad news, and I have good news.'” Granger asked for the bad news first. “‘Your next fight is at 125lbs,'” was the reply Granger, normally a strawweight, received. “‘But the good news is, you’re fighting in the UFC in two weeks.’ It was pretty awesome, I had my whole family around me. Just to be able to experience that moment with them, it was surreal.”
Surreal. Amazing. All apt ways to describe her debut. “This is the cage where so many legends have been before me,” Granger said Saturday. “Just to be able to walk in their footsteps, and do the things that they’re doing, the people I’ve idolized my whole life, it’s a dream come true.”
One small benefit was that opponent Goldy went through a similar set of circumstances leading into the bout. “It helped a little bit. I know she took the fight last minute as well. Nothing but respect to her and her camp,” said Granger. “It did help, she usually fights at 115 also, so for us to be in the exact same boat was best case scenario for me.”
On moving up a weight class, Granger explained that “for two weeks notice, I loved it, but usually, I would rather fight at 115. I like misery a little bit, it makes me a little more prepared for the fight.”
Which means strawweight is the plan moving forward. She has no particular names in mind, she said post-fight in the octagon at UFC Newark. She’s looking to fight everyone. As for a time frame, “honesty, whenever. I’m ready. I stay ready. I like to have some fight camps, but I took a fight on two week’s notice. I’m ready whenever they are.”
Watch the full UFC Newark post-fight press scrum with Miranda Granger above!
