Canada’s Gillian Robertson will be back in action this Saturday at UFC Vegas 50, having opted to step in on short notice against JJ Aldrich.
Robertson was on her way to Las Vegas to corner Hannah Goldy when she got the call to replace Ariane Lipski in the bout.
“[Goldy] was supposed to fight last weekend, ended up having to pull out of her fight because she got the flu,” Robertson told Cageside Press in an exclusive interview recently. “The doctors didn’t think it was safe for her to cut weight at that point. I was on my way out here to corner her, and I got the call the night before I left.”
The 26-year old, originally from Niagara Falls, Ontario, was looking for a fight anyway.
“I’m always looking for a fight. I’m constantly hitting up Mick [Maynard, UFC matchmaker] just ready to go, staying ready constantly,” Robertson said with a laugh. “I’m just trying to get it going this year. I’m upset that I had to wait until March.”
Coincidentally, Robertson spent some time at Team Elevation, where Aldrich trains, last fall— but there won’t be much of an inside track in this case.
“We trained for literally probably less than a minute together. We were doing some situational rounds, so a big group of girls. If you escaped, you were out,” Robertson explained.
The ability to step in for a flyweight fight on short notice is thanks to Robertson’s size: she walks around fairly low for the weight class.
“I’d say 135 is heavy for me. If I’m in shape, training every day, I can be eating whatever I want, and I’ll be walking like 130 to 133,” she revealed. “I’m just small for the weight class in general.”
Despite having fought at strawweight in her youth, she has no plans on making the tougher cut back to 115lbs. For Robertson, it all comes down to mindset: she doesn’t believe the weight makes a difference.
“I don’t think five or ten pounds is going to make a girl better than me. I think that if she’s better than me, she’s going to be better than me. So technically, I just try to prepare myself and try to game plan the best I can.”
When she faces off with Aldrich, Robertson knows she’ll need to be at her best. While she loves her “throat cuddles,” the Canadian recognizes that JJ is a dangerous opponent.
“She’s definitely not a scrub, and it’s not going to be someone that’s easy to get out of there. I don’t think that she’s going to let me go in there and get that choke like I want,” she admitted. “I think I’m going to have to make it dirty, I’m going to have to throw a lot of elbows and knees, make her want to get out of there, make her want to give me her throat, and just make her not want to be in the cage with me.”
Robertson will be looking for her second straight win this Saturday, following her submission of Priscila Cachoeira late last year. That fight had some controversy to it, after the Brazilian both missed weight, and gouged at Robertson’s eye while trapped in a rear-naked choke.
Many were shocked to see the grace and poise Robertson displayed following the fight, essentially immediately forgiving Cachoeira for the foul. She agrees that might be a bit of her Canadian side on display — it is, after all, a nation known for politeness.
“I think it might have been a little bit of that,” Robertson laughed. “To me, the weight miss is a bigger point for me than the eye gouge was. I feel like that was more of an intentional thing— we’re professionals, you’ve got to show up [on weight], that’s your job. That was more of a big thing for me than the whole eye gouge thing.”
Outside of the cage, Robertson has begun working on a commentary career, working the booth for an Island Fights event recently. There’ll be more of that to come, she told us.
“I’m actually in talks with them for their next show right now. They have one coming up March 24, I believe. So I believe I’ll be commentating again for them then. It’s just a great experience and it’s a great way to stay involved in the fight game even if I’m not in the cage.”
Admitting to working up a sweat when doing media in the past, Robertson added that the nerves are there — but her love of the sport definitely helps.
“I feel like my mental battle is my biggest battle,” she stated. “It goes with commentating even more, because I feel like, I am so socially awkward, I am so shy. So being in front of the mic, it definitely isn’t easy, but it’s easier when you’re talking about something you love so much.”
Gillian Robertson faces JJ Aldrich this Saturday, March 12, 2022 at the Apex in Las Vegas. The card airs live on ESPN+ in the U.S., and TSN in Canada.
