Salt Lake City, UT — Women’s bantamwieght Lucie Pudilova returned to the octagon at UFC 278 on Saturday, fighting in the promotion for the first time since 2020.
In her time away, Pudilova posted a 5-1 record under the Oktagon MMA banner, and showed a vastly improved skill set in her fight against China’s Wu Yanan on Saturday. In the end, she earned her first UFC win in four years, care of a TKO finish brought about by some nasty elbows.
“I feel amazing. This fight was very hard,” Pudilov said following the bout, speaking to media outlets including Cageside Press. The bantamweight admitted to having a slow start, something she attributed to the pressure of her return. “I feel a little bit of pressure because I was back in the UFC. It’s amazing, and I really wanted to show the best from me. It was hard, yeah. Then I feel better after two, three minutes.”
During her time away, Pudilova was always driven to make it back to the big show. “Yeah, I always wanted to go back to the UFC,” she stated.
As for what comes next for the Czech fighter, there’ll be some celebration with her team, SBG Ireland. “Tonight I want to go with my team, we go for a party, and then we will be thinking about a fight.”
Watch the full UFC 278 post-fight press scrum with Lucie Pudilova above.
