LAS VEGAS – Macy Chiasson and her coaches did their homework on Gina Mazany prior to their bout on the UFC 235 prelims, and it paid off in a big way very early on.
“We planned for her to do one of two things: either come forward real heavy or kind of float back against the cage,” Chiasson (3-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) told reporters backstage at T-Mobile Arena after the fight. “As soon as we broke off the clinch and I saw her float back toward the cage I just set up right, left, right. She just kept going back so I knew I had her at that point.”
After backing Mazany up against the fence, Chiasson dropped her with a hard right hand to the jaw a little less than two minutes into the fight, then pounced with strikes on the mat to finish the job at the 1:49 mark of Round 1.
For Chiasson, the fight itself was the culmination of months worth of work to get down to 135 pounds after winning season 28 of “The Ultimate Fighter” as a featherweight. That drop in weight wasn’t easy, Chiasson admitted, and there were times when she even questioned whether it was worth it.
“All the time,” Chiasson said. “Every day I’m like, I can’t believe I’m going through all of this to get to a lower weight class. There was always that high and low.”
But thanks to a solid support system and help from her teammates and coaches, Chiasson said, she made it to bantamweight and put her size and strength to good use.
After this win, she said, she had a brief conversation with UFC President Dana White about potential next moves.
“We had a little chat with Dana after the fight. … He just told me he didn’t see a lot of girls at 135 knocking girls out like that. And I love Dana. As soon as I see him I smile because he’s just such a lovable guy. So it made me really happy to hear that.”
Check out the video above for more from Chiasson.
And for complete coverage of UFC 235, check out the UFC Events section of the site.
