LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Irene Aldana[/autotag] isn’t one to try and call her shots. That won’t change, even after her bonus-earning knockout of Ketlen Vieira at UFC 245.
While she feels comfortable declaring she’s ready for a title shot, Aldana told media backstage she doesn’t want to “pressure anyone.” In her eyes, the UFC makes the fights – not her.
“I don’t ask for fights, and I just wait for the UFC to ask me for a fight – to make a proposal for a fight,” Aldana said. “I think I’m ready. I just need to rest a little because I’ve been very active this year. I’ll definitely go back as soon as possible to my gym and train hard, because I know harder opponents are coming.”
Contenders Aspen Ladd and Juliana Pena also loom near the top of the division. However, Aldana thinks the win should elevate her to Vieira’s contender status pre-fight.
“She was undefeated,” Aldana said. “She was next in line for the belt, so she represented a great challenge for me. I know that I came into this fight with nothing to lose (and) a lot to win. But there was a lot of risk because she’s so tough. We worked really hard all year. Every fight I took this year helped me to take this win.”
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The exhilaration of victory is usually offset by the agony of defeat. This fight was no different. As Aldana celebrated arguably the biggest win of her career, Vieira was visibly crushed. Following the finish, Aldana and Vieira had an emotional embrace inside the cage.
“I said to her that I respect her,” Aldana said. “She’s awesome and a great fighter. I always respect my opponents – always. She’s a great person. She showed her respect for me all fight week, and that felt awesome.
“That’s something I’m really glad to fight opponents like that. I just feel good vibes for her. I (wish) her the best and hope she recovers and comes back.”
The women’s bantamweight bout took place on the preliminary portion of Saturday’s card held at T-Mobile Arena, with the main card streaming on pay-per-view after prelims on ESPN2 and ESPN+.
Check out Aldana’s full UFC 245 post-fight media scrum in the video above.
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