Commerce, CA — Pauline Macias saw her fight at LFA 137 fall through on short notice under the most tragic of circumstances. While Macias herself is fine, her opponent, Amber Brown, experienced a family emergency the day before the fight, and was forced to pull out.
“I literally woke up, checked my weight, I was on wieght, I was very happy about that. Minutes later, I had a very serious conversation with everyone from LFA,” Macias told Cageside Press at Friday’s event, which took place in Commerce, CA. “I can’t even imagine what my opponent is going through.”
Brown would later post a message on social media stating that her daughter had gone into cardiac arrest on Thursday morning, undergoing twenty minutes of CPR. Having caught pneumonia, she also suffered damage to her kidney and liver, though those appeared to be improving.
Hello everyone. Sorry for going MIA, due to unfortunate circumstances I did not fight last night. Thank you to @LFAfighting pic.twitter.com/GUAKFyrS1L
— Amber Brown (@TheBully505) July 31, 2022
“I don’t even know what to say about it, you’re almost at a loss for words, becasue— all I can do is wish my opponent and her family the best,” Macias said of the news.
Macias had booked the bout with Invicta FC veteran Brown in the hopes of bouncing back from a loss pair of losses, with one on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2020. In the coming days, she’ll work out what her next steps are in getting back to competition.
“We’re going to take the weekend, and we’re probably going to have some meetings this week coming up. LFA is great, of course they would re-book me quickly. I know Contender Series is on right now, I was already on Contender Series, so if a short notice comes up— I mean shoot, I live in Vegas now. If a short notice for the UFC comes up, I’m there. I’m ready, I’m ready to go, I’m good. I just really hope everything goes okay with my opponent and her family. That’s it.”
Macias (4-2) came up on the U.S. judo scene, alongside the likes of Kayla Harrison and Ronda Rousey — complete with overnight stays with the latter’s family. In particular, she credits Rousey’s mom AnnMaria De Mars as part of the reason she’s in combat sports. “Honestly, part of the reason I’m here today is AnnMaria. She was such an influential part of me growing up, whether she knows it or not. Her and my original judo coach were great friends, and I just feel so blessed to have her in my life.”
She’s even seen some of those infamous occasions where De Mars arm-barred her daughter to keep her ready — and experienced the same. Just no early-morning sneak attacks in her case. “Ann-Marie has arm-barred me, yes.” Just not first thing in the morning, she confirmed. “No, I was on the second bunk!”
Watch our full interview with LFA strawweight Pauline Macias above.
