Mariya Agapova hopes that UFC fans haven’t forgotten her.
The flyweight prospect hasn’t been in the Octagon since August 2020, when she was defeated by Shana Dobson. Following the loss, Agapova underwent knee surgery to repair a torn ACL. She has spent the time away recovering and reflecting to prepare for her bout against Sabina Mazo this weekend at UFC Fight Night: Dern vs Rodriguez.
The 24-year-old is thrilled to be doing all the things she loves again.
“I’m happy being back in Vegas,” Agapova said. “I’m happy coming back, giving an interview, cutting weight. It’s amazing. I love my job. I missed it so much.”
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Agapova suffered the first loss of her career on Dana White’s Contender Series against Tracy Cortez, after previously holding a 6-0 record. She wasn’t going to give up on her dreams of making it to the big stage, so she went back to the Invicta FC promotion and came out with two first-round finishes which led her to a UFC contract.
In her UFC debut, Agapova submitted Hannah Cifers at 2:42 of the first round and earned a Performance of the Night bonus. Just two months later, she was back in the Octagon facing Dobson when loss came again.
“I learned a lot from that experience,” Agapova said. “I understand that this is the UFC, very high level. Usually, I just take it fight by fight and I don’t care, but last time I picked the fight so soon, I didn’t have time for recovery. I didn’t have time to fix things, get myself a car, apartment, make the conditions comfortable. I was struggling so bad, and I didn’t fix it. I was trying to jump as high as possible and I f***ed up.”