Bethe Correia reveals how people were begging her to return to MMA after nearly two years away from the sport.
Bethe Correia has discussed her upcoming fight against Irene Aldana at UFC 237 this weekend, and also said people were ‘begging’ for her return to the UFC having not fought almost two years.
Correia (10-3-1) has just one win in her last five fights, a split decision against Jessica Eye back in 2016. Although she has picked up losses against top competitors such as former champions Holly Holm and Ronda Rousey, Correia is just looking forward to getting back in the octagon as she feels things were better at women’s bantamweight when she was active.
“Pitbull” spoke to MMA Fighting about the cancellation of two previous bookings with Aldana, and her return to MMA after her long layoff.
”The division needs me. Coming back to fight, coming back to the wins,” Correia said. “Things were way cooler when I was more active. I think the division needs Bethe Correia coming back and winning this fight. I will always be a strong name fight for the belt. People are begging for me to come back.
”The way things happened, it was really frustrating for me,” Correia said of the cancellations. “Fights getting cancelled is something normal in this sport, it happens, but the medical situation we got into, the misinformation, people thinking I was hiding information from the UFC about my eye situation, that got me very frustrated. I was cutting weight, a thousand times more emotional… But it’s over now. I got more mature after all that. Everything that happened made me stronger and better prepared.”
UFC 237 takes place this Saturday, May 11th, at the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A women’s strawweight title fight between Rose Namajunas and Jessica Andrade will headline the card.