Tracy
Cortez believes her move to Mexico City has made her a better
athlete.
Cortez is scheduled to fight Cong Wang at
UFC
329 9 on July 11 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Cortez’s
longtime coach Santino
Defranco retired from coaching following her loss against
Erin
Blanchfield this past November. Cortez subsequently parted ways
with the
Fight Ready gym in Scottsdale, Arizona. Cortez has since moved
to Mexico City to train at the UFC Performance Institute for her
upcoming bout.
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Cortez claims she is still on good terms with the Fight Ready team.
However, the
Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight believes she outgrew
them, fuelling her move to Mexico City. The move has not only
helped Cortez develop as an athlete, but also helped her connect
deeper to her Mexican roots.
Tracy Cortez departure from Fight Ready and coaching split
explained
“Obviously, I know I’m on good terms with them, but I just felt
like I outgrew them… It’s just one of those things where, for me to
grow not just as a person but as an athlete, I do have to explore,
and I have to go outside of my comfort zone, and I was very
comfortable at Fight Ready for many years,” Cortez
told Danny Segura. “It’s just one of those things where, to
grow, to evolve, I mean Fight Ready was all I knew. So I parted
ways, and again, coming here to Mexico City, I think I’ve grown so
much as a person, a Mexican woman, and as a professional
athlete.”
After going unbeaten in her first five UFC outings, Cortez (12-3)
has now dropped two of her last three, albeit against elite
opponents in Rose
Namajunas and Blanchfield. Meanwhile, Wang (9-1), who boasts a
kickboxing win over Valentina
Shevchenko, is 4-1 in the UFC.