Loopy Godinez is hoping to never see Sam Hughes as a name for a potential future opponent.
After two canceled bouts against Hughes, Godinez (10-3 MMA, 5-3 UFC) feels that Hughes is trying to avoid fighting her, and she no longer wants to deal with the issues and stress that come with fight cancelations.
Godinez was scheduled to fight Hughes on Sept. 16 at Noche UFC, but the fight fell through from Hughes’ side due to undisclosed reasons, something the Mexican fighter was not happy with.
“Yeah, well that morning I woke up and saw the message, ‘Opponent is out, but we got Elise Reed,’ and we take it,” Godinez told MMA Junkie Radio, recalling the moment she found out Hughes was out. “It was right away. But yeah, I had a fight right away.
“When I got offered Sam, I was like, ‘Oh, I hope she doesn’t pull out because she did pull out before on me for my second UFC fight because of some COVID (related thing) with her coach or something like that. But I know she doesn’t want to fight me. I just know. So I was worried that she was going to pull out because I’m here, and I’m doing my full camp in Mexico and of course I’m looking forward to fight, to getting there, and showing my improvements and everything, and of course she pulled out. It sucks, but lucky the UFC and my management, they had this opponent for me, so that’s great.”
Godinez got a replacement opponent for the event in Elise Reed. She’s happy that she didn’t have to wait long before getting a new name after Hughes withdrew from the card.
Yet, moving forward, Godinez hopes the UFC doesn’t book her in future fights against Hughes as she believes she’ll pull out again.
“I did tell my manager, Jason (House), ‘You know what, she doesn’t want to fight me. Just tell that to the UFC,'” Godinez said. “There is no point in doing full camps if you don’t want to fight. That’s just a waste of time.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Noche UFC.
