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After missing the bantamweight mark in her last bout, Bethe Correia puts her weight problems in the past ahead of UFC Mexico.
It seems that the scale will not be a problem for former female bantamweight title challenger Bethe Correia at UFC Mexico. Only one day prior to her fight against Sijara Eubanks, the ‘Pitbull’ tells Combate she had a much easier weight cutting process this time around, as opposed to her last outing, when she missed the division’s mark by five pounds.
In her last outing back in May, Correia not only badly missed weight, but was also tapped out by Irene Aldana in the third round of their fight at UFC 237. According to Bethe, her performance was hindered due to the bad weight cutting process, which she thinks could have been related to her two-year absence from the Octagon before that match.
“I had difficulty. I have had fights in which I made weight easily, it’s hard to find one single reason for it. I don’t know if it had to do with me being two years away. I think fighting in Rio always adds a little extra pressure. Sometimes your metabolism just doesn’t help you. Sometimes it works at one event and it doesn’t work the next. When it comes to losing weight, it’s complicated, it’s not math. Our body isn’t precise math. It was something that didn’t work that one time, but I don’t want it to happen again.”
In order to avoid the problem, Bethe decided to arrive in Mexico three weeks before the event, in order to get used to the Mexico City’ high altitude. In her opinion, the new approach showed positive results, since Correia feels comfortable with ther weight cutting process this time around and believes there will be no surprises when the time to step on the scale on Friday comes.
“I got here a little over two weeks ago, I calculated that I wanted to stay here for three weeks until the fight. Many people told me I’d have problems with the altitude, a lot of athletes arrive early, so I decided to come early and avoid surprises. I feel much better, I think that counts for a lot. I’ve been training well and my weight is dropping nicely. I’m not having the same struggles I had in my last fight. I think everything will be all right.”
Currently on a two-fight losing skid, with the aforementioned Aldana loss and a knockout defeat to Holly Holm before that back in June 2017, Correia (10-4-1) has not won a fight since September 2016. She edged out Jessica Eye via split decision at that time, which was followed up by a match against Marion Reneau that was declared a majority draw.
Now, Bethe Correia is expected to meet Sijara Eubanks at UFC Fight Night 159, in Mexico City, Mexico, on September 21. The card is set to be headlined by a featherweight bout between Jeremy Stephens and Yair Rodriguez.