Las Vegas, NV – First she had her fight rescheduled, then her original opponent fell out, but finally UFC strawweight Emily Ducote has an opponent when she takes on Loopy Godinez at UFC Vegas 73 on Saturday night.
“It’s been interesting. I spent 10 weeks preparing for Polyana (Viana). Then she asked to push it three weeks, I agree, and then she pulls out and I get Loopy,” Ducote told reporters on Wednesday.
“It is what is it. I’m excited. I’ve put a lot of effort into making sure everything on my end is sharp. The opponent makes no difference. I’m ready to go.”
The change of date and ultimately the change of opponent bought Ducote some time to rest and re-engage her training.
“I ate some good food for a couple days. My coach plans everything so he said we don’t want to peak too early, we’re going to readjust a little bit, so I took that weekend. Little bit of rest, little bit of food, and got right back on it the next week,” she said.
Godinez is quite clearly a different kind of fighter than Viana. Ducote had to change her game plan in order to prepare for Loopy.
“So Polyana and Loopy are not very similar opponents. One is tall and long, one’s Jiu Jitsu, one is shorter like me. Same size and just loves to fight and strike. Very different, but like I said we put a lot of emphasis on my skill set this camp,” said Ducote.
“At the end of the day it really was, do I want to fight or not? And I do. So we accepted, a little bit of a catchweight, and that’s it.”
Watch the entire media day scrum with Emily Ducote above. She takes on Loopy Godinez at UFC Vegas 73 on Saturday night.
