Athletes
A Special Moment To Be Loopy Godinez
A Win Streak, A New Team & A Reconnection With Her Heritage Punctuate Strawweight's Upcoming Bout At Noche UFC
Loopy Godinez didn’t blink an eye when she found out that she had to share the record for fastest turnaround in modern-day UFC history with Da’Mon Blackshear. That’s not to say Godinez wouldn’t mind breaking that seven-day tie by fighting on a Saturday and then the next Friday.
“If they could do it for me, I'll do that,” laughs Godinez, who is not exaggerating in the slightest.
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But things have changed a bit since her first year in the Octagon in 2021, when she fought four times and wanted even more. On Saturday, she’s fighting for the third time in 2023 when she meets Elise Reed in Las Vegas, and though that’s a full year for most, is it enough for the Mexico native?
“I changed teams, so now I'm with Lobo and it’s been great,” said Godinez. “We all click, and I feel really comfortable. But they (the UFC) haven't asked me to fight more often, otherwise I would be in there. But, as I say, it's not up to me, it's up to them to call me. But, to be honest, it was nice to get this full camp in.”
Full camps are a rarity when you’re fighting four times a year, but with this “quieter” schedule, Godinez can get acclimated to her new team and coaches and show up on fight night at her best. That’s the case this weekend, especially with her teammate, flyweight champion Alexa Grasso, headlining the Noche UFC event at T-Mobile Arena.
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“She's the best,” said Godinez. “We push each other and it is not only me and Alexa fighting, because when we are stepping in the cage, we are all fighting. It's a real team because we sweat and bleed and train together every single day. We put our bodies through so much all together. It's amazing. The energy in the gym, everyone's working hard. You can be super tired, but just to feel all the energy and all the good vibes, the tiredness and the soreness goes out the window. You're there to work hard every single day.”
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Sweat. Blood. Tired. Sore. Does not sound pleasant to the civilians out there, but to this fighter from Aguascalientes, it’s music to her ears and has reignited her love for the sport.
MORE NOCHE UFC: Alexa Grasso Continues To Climb The Mountain | Mr. Holland's Mantra: Get Rich Or Die Trying | Jack Della Madallena Just Wants To Fight | Valentina Shevchenko Wants To Restore Order
“To be honest, I was losing a little bit of the love of the game before because I wasn't getting what I needed,” she admits. “I wasn't getting those hard rounds, those sessions where you feel like, ‘Oh my gosh, how am I going to get up and walk to the car?’ (Laughs) I was missing so much, and now that I'm getting it, I'm so crazy about the sport. I f**king love the sport. This is what I needed.”
Hearing that, and knowing that Godinez arrived in Vegas with a two-fight winning streak and victories in three of her last four, you wonder how far she’s going to take this now that she found her ideal training situation and is genuinely happy in it. She has some ideas, but first things first, and that’s fighting Reed on Mexican Independence Day.
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“It's amazing,” she said. “I've been in Canada for 15 years now, and I couldn't come to Mexico for so many years. And finally, I have the freedom, the money and what it takes for me to travel back to Mexico. So, for me, I'm seeing this as a reconnection to my heritage. When we moved, I was young and, of course, it was hard to make my own decisions. So my parents were making all these decisions. We're in a new country, new everything. And now you have to make it work. So, of course, it takes time for you to build up, to have the freedom, the money, to build, to travel. It takes a lot of work, a lot of time, and a lot of years. And finally, I'm in that position where I can say, okay, I am going to Mexico for three months, peace out and then leave. So, I feel like this is a special moment just to reconnect with where I born, where I'm from.”
UFC Fight Night: Grasso vs Shevchenko 2 took place live from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 16, 2023. See the Final Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
