Mexico fell short in its quest for a fourth UFC title.
In the biggest fight of her career, Irene Aldana had arguably her worst showing, losing a lopsided decision against two-division UFC champion Amanda Nunes in the main event of UFC 289 this past Saturday.
Immediately after the bout, Nunes (23-5 MMA, 16-2 UFC) announced her retirement, while Aldana (14-6 MMA, 7-4 UFC) had no option but to endure the criticism of fans and pundits.
Brandon Moreno, who’s the first Mexico-born fighter to hold a UFC belt, thinks the world didn’t get to see the real version of Aldana that night at UFC 289.
“I don’t know if the best Irene that day would’ve beat Amanda Nunes, but what I do know is that Irene has looked way better in other fights,” Moreno told MMA Junkie in Spanish. “She’s done a lot more. This time around she looked off, she looked hesitant, and she didn’t want to let her hands go. But damn, you also need to remember that we’re human beings at the end of the day.”
In a short statement the day after the fight, Aldana hinted at the mental aspect hindering her performance, while saying she “already identified this blockage” and promising it won’t happen again.
Moreno doesn’t want to make any excuses for Aldana but knows the pressure was at an all-time high given who she was fighting, what she was fighting for, and the moment in which she was attempting to capture a UFC title.
“Imagine you’re the main event of a pay-per-view, you’re fighting for a title, you have thousands of people in the arena, all the media on fight week, and the pressure,” Moreno said. “I imagine the pressure of, ‘Look, Brandon Moreno is champion. Alexa won the title. Yair won the title, too. We want the fourth. You can do it, Irene.’ And all that. I also think this is extra pressure.
“You do have to take responsibility as an athlete, the pressure is always going to be there, and you need to do your job regardless of the circumstances, but yeah, I do think it was the mental aspect.
“At the end of the day, you have nothing left but to do what she said: Get yourself together, stand back up, and do whatever is necessary to move forward. I think she can achieve it. It was a bad night. Unfortunately, a bad night for us means catastrophe. Us having a bad night is terrible. It’s losing a fight after months of preparation.”
But what’s done is done, and Moreno thinks it’s crucial for Aldana to turn the page and start looking at how she can get back to the belt. If “The Assasin Baby” could give Aldana any advice, he would tell her to just brush herself off and keep going.
“I think the easiest thing and the best thing that I could tell her is to do everything possible to turn the page,” Moreno explained. “That happened. Take with you the things that you need to improve on, obviously, and study and look at the mistakes you made, but turn the page.
“Don’t stay with, ‘Oh, man, I failed. Oh, man, I disappointed the people.’ At the end of the day, it’s just you. At the end of the day, win or lose, it’s just you and the people who really love you and appreciate you. Get rid of worrying about what people say and judgements, and turn the page and move forward. Rest up a little bit and go back to the gym.”
