UFC star Tracy Cortez has always been a force to be reckoned with in the ring, but now she's even more focused and dedicated to the fight. Cortez, 30, shared pictures of herself wearing purple shorts and a white sports bra, lifting heavy weights at the gym. She also shared an image with the text "Welcome to my one-woman show, where you watch me do whatever I want." Cortez overhauled her entire training and fighting regime over the last year and feels stronger than ever—here's how she did it.
Cortez went to Brazil in 2023 to take her fighting to the next level. "I've been working on everything. Mostly I want to say just sharpening up my wrestling, keeping it sharp. My striking, I've been working on my striking a lot," Cortez said during a Noche UFC Athlete Panel, via Cageside Press. "I went over to Brazil for a while, trained with the Pitbull brothers. I just grew. Got out of my comfort zone. I wanted to evolve not just as a person but as an athlete. I just felt like it was time. I've been really trying to evolve overall… I'm very confident in my wrestling, I'm very confident on my ground. I believe it's pretty difficult to take me down and if you do, it's going to be difficult to keep me down."
Cortez feels a renewed love for fighting. "This year really fueled me and gave me that spark in my heart again," she told UFC.com. "I've seen the growth not just outside the cage, but in the cage. My coaches have seen the growth, and I'm really confident in my team. I don't believe I would be the athlete I am without them."
Cortez stayed in Brazil for as long as she thought necessary. "I've known Patricio [Pitbull] for quite a time now. When he does come to Fight Ready, he's such a good teacher, he's always giving me new tools to work and to practice so I can get better," she said during the Athlete Panel. "It kind of just hit me where I was ready to try something new, get out of my element. I shot him a message, and he told me, he said 'come on by.' So I went over to Brazil, stayed over there for a while, came back, told my coaches 'hey, I'm ready to come back, now it's time.'"
Cortez is thrilled to celebrate Mexican Independence Day with UFC Noche. "I don't like being emotional when I go in there, but I definitely am going to take it in when I walk out," she told UFC.com. "I'm going to take it in. I'm going to take in all the energy, all the vibes. I'm going to feel the crowd's energy, because Mexicans, they go hard for their fans."
Cortez is determined to take her fighting to the next level. "I do believe I have what it takes," she told UFC.com. "Once they ingrained that in my brain, and I start seeing it, and I feel great, that's what happened. After having my injuries and being laid off for so long and having that itch to come back, it was like, 'OK, I'm gonna come back, and what? Just accept a fight? No, I'm going to come back, and I'm going to make a statement.'"
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