UFC Fight Night 124 winner Aldana grateful for starting UFC 0-2

“Tell them everything I know, I learned from the losses.”
Jack Dempsey

UFC women’s bantamweight Irene Aldana spoke with the media following her unanimous decision win over Talita Bernardo at UFC Fight Night 124 on Sunday, and said she was grateful her UFC career started with losses, a unanimous decision to Leslie Smith in the Fight of the Night, and then a split decision to Katlyn Chookagian.

It was difficult, said Aldana, as transcribed by Mike Bohn and John Morgan for MMAjunkie. Obviously everybody wants to win the fight, but I understand this is a sport. There are winners and there are losers. I accept my losses as I accept my wins. I fought two very [experienced] fighters and my career went very fast. I had three fights in Mexico and then I was brought in international for belts in Invicta, now UFC. It happened very quickly and I didn’t fight as experienced fighters as I did when I came here. That made me grow as a fighter.

I’m glad it happened. It made me a better fighter. Honestly, I think my second fight I won against Kaitlyn Chookagian, but it was a very close fight, and I’m glad I can stay here. I’m not going anywhere.

I would have loved to get a knockout or submission, but things went that way. She was tougher than I thought. She came out very prepared; she was the strongest. I’m glad I won, and I did my best. This fight prepared me for what’s next. Maybe next time I will get in the cage more confident and more prepared.

I worked on being more aggressive. I came mentally stronger. The first fight in my debut I was really, really nervous. I wasn’t thinking very good. I tried to make this fight more intelligent. I took my time, and I’m happy.

I was supposed to fight Bethe Correia on this card. She was injured and couldn’t take the fight, so Talita took her place. Maybe she’s next; I don’t know. She’s a great opponent, a great fighter. I would like to fight her. If she’s not, maybe Marion Reneau. I was supposed to fight Marion Reneau in Invicta. Maybe one of those. I would love to keep climbing to the top 10.

A surprising number of top UFC fighters lost their very first fight including the greatest fighter in WMMA history Cris Cyborg, UFC Hall of Famer Forrest Griffin, G.O.A.T. contender Kazushi Sakuraba, BJJ great Jacare Souza, and multiple-time UFC heavyweight champ Andrei Arlovski who suffered the ignominy of losing to Datsik. If Aldana continues to grow through the losses as well as the wins, the Mexican fighter might someday ascend to greatness.

In the meantime, a win over Correia would vault her into the top 15:
Champion : Amanda Nunes
1 Valentina Shevchenko
2 Holly Holm
3 Julianna Pena
4 Raquel Pennington
5 Germaine de Randamie
6 Cat Zingano
6 Ketlen Vieira
8 Sara McMann
9 Ronda Rousey
10 Marion Reneau
11 Katlyn Chookagian
12 Bethe Correia
13 Leslie Smith
14 Aspen Ladd
15 Sarah Moras