AUSTIN, Texas – Does MMA math apply to weight cutting? Because if it does, Julia Avila might be in for a big night Saturday.
Avila (9-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) returns from an absence of about 2.5 years when she closes out the preliminary card against former women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate (20-9 MMA, 6-6 UFC) at UFC on ESPN 52 at Moody Center in Austin, Texas.
Where the MMA math on the scale comes into play is fascinating, and perhaps it will be just a footnote. But for now, consider this: Tate, an all-time great and women’s MMA pioneer, recently attempted a move to flyweight. She said this week the toll it took to drop 10 more pounds from 135 to 125 was too much.
When Avila steps in the cage Saturday, she said it will by just about a year since she weighed 225 pounds after a knee surgery and, near the same time, her pregnancy with her first child. The drop to bantamweight means 90 pounds in roughly a year – a staggering number given that was a full 40 percent drop in weight.
“I went up to 225 pounds and I was huge,” Avila said at UFC on ESPN 52 media day Wednesday. “I lost almost 100 pounds. I’m going to be almost 100 pounds difference from this time last year, and I don’t think people realize.
“It was the effort and the struggle and the pain that I had to go through and my team had to go through and witness. But I would do it all over again if I needed to. I don’t need to, luckily. I’m not going to. I’m going to see this through and there’s going to be a title in my future. That’s the goal.”
Avila said she’ll try to not get starstruck fighting the former champ.
“She’s a former champion. She’s amazing. She’s done wonders for women’s MMA,” Avila said. “I remember there was a memory that popped up on my Facebook that she retired seven years ago and I’m like, all right, the bantam division’s open. I can come in. And that was seven years ago. And now I get to fight her.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 52.
