She’s not lying, if you’ve ever been to Mexico City, you know the street food here makes the street food of other cities beg for forgiveness. But at least for the next few hours, the tortas and the elote will have to wait while she finishes the weight cut for her tilt versus Sam Hughes at UFC Fight Night: Moreno vs Royval 2.
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The stage will be much bigger on Saturday, of course. Mexico City Arena is sold out and the crowd—full of Jauregui’s family, friends and countrymen—will be in full effect by the time she makes her main card walk to meet Hughes. It will be quite an audience for a crucial bout, a bout where she hopes to bounce back from a loss in her most recent bout to Denise Gomes. It was the first loss of her professional career, and it halted some undeniable momentum she’d established in her first two UFC wins over Istela Nunes and Iasmin Lucindo. She had been heralded as one of the brightest prospects at 115 pounds, and she’s determined to not let that slip away.
“Obviously, no one wants to have a defeat, no one comes out wanting to actually be defeated. I learned a lot about myself in that fight. We unfortunately have to taste the bitter taste of defeat in life. And it happened to me. But we learned a lot of what things that we can do in training for this fight and future fights. Also, the mental aspect, which is so important to fighting, to actually have that ready,” she explains via interpreter.