“I should be fighting for the belt next because I feel that I have done enough in my fights to be the next in line,” she said. “I beat Ketlen, at the time she was number two, Holly is number two, so I think this is going to be clear. There’s nothing more that we can prove. I want to take that belt to Mexico.”
A proud native of Sinaloa who now makes her home in Guadalajara, Aldana showed even before she joined the UFC roster that she had the Mexican fighting spirit in her thanks to a five-fight stint in Invicta FC where she went 4-1 with four finishes and three post-fight performance bonuses.
“I think every Mexican has it,” she said. “It’s in our blood, it’s in our DNA. I’m very proud of that and it’s something you can’t act. It’s something you just have.”
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That ability to finish opponents and put on exciting fights made her Octagon debut in 2016 a highly anticipated one, and while she lost that first UFC bout to Leslie Smith, the duo did earn Fight of the Night honors for their efforts. A split decision defeat to Katlyn Chookagian would follow, but since then, it’s been smooth sailing for Aldana, with the only hiccup being another split decision loss, this one to Raquel Pennington in July 2019.
So while this is Aldana’s first main event appearance in the UFC, this isn’t her first big fight.
