Seventeen fighters on the current UFC roster were born in Mexico – that’s good enough for fourth most of any country on the roster. However, the biggest MMA moments for the country have come in the last year as three of their own have claimed UFC gold. Yair Rodriguez, Brandon Moreno, and Alexa Grasso rest with belts on their shoulders and stand as inspiration to a whole generation of Mexican fighters.
One of those fighters, Lupita Godinez, fights this weekend at UFC 287. When she thinks about how big that is for her birth country, it fills her with jot.
“It’s so good honestly. It makes me so happy that Mexico is coming up,” Godinez shared.
But it isn’t just seeing fellow Mexicans on top that makes her happy. Godinez knows that those champions, along with her self, are helping to grow the popularity of the sport south of the border.
“So many people are starting to train and starting to fight and starting to get to the UFC,” she said. “It’s just a matter of time before it’s huge in Mexico.”
The next step to making the sport bigger is getting another name towards the top – which she plans to take the next step towards on Saturday.
Leading into this fight, Godinez feels as good as she has in a long time. A lot of that feeling comes from her physical preparation, but plenty comes from the other side of things too.
“I feel like I’ve grown a lot as a fighter and as an athlete for this fight. I had six months off to train and to get better and to level up a little,” Godinez said. “My life has changed completely in the past year, so I’m in a better place. Mentally, I’m the most dangerous.”
You can catch her being dangerous as part of the UFC 287 ESPN+ early prelims this Saturday. That portion of the card will begin at 6pm EST.
You can hear the entire audio of this interview at 35:48.
