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Emily Ducote: ‘This Is Where I Need To Be’
Strawweight Emily Ducote Eyes Consecutive Wins At UFC Fight Night: Barboza vs Murphy
To be a professional fighter is to accept that the job, at times, is one of contradictions, including the one Emily Ducote recently accepted in her last fight against Ashley Yoder. Ducote, a black belt in taekwondo and Brazilian jiu jitsu, generally prefers to keep things technical and trust her training. However, she knew the fight was in the balance heading into the third round, and, coming off back-to-back losses, getting her hand raised was the most important thing, regardless of how she got it done.
Ducote bit down on her mouthpiece, landed a career-best 57 significant strikes over the final five minutes, stuffed a takedown and got the victory. It was a gritty effort in a slugfest of a final round—Ducote and Yoder combined for 198 total attempted strikes—and Ducote was able to bring her UFC record to .500.
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“I think for the last fight I was just more concerned about doing whatever it took to get the win,” Ducote told UFC.com. “I'm a technical person, so I want to look really good doing it, but last time, I just needed to get it done, however possible. I'm just kind of rolling with that, being very aggressive, high-volume and doing whatever I do in there.”
“Gordinha” maintains that she is “pretty happy” with her last outing, but she is keen on stringing together consecutive wins in the Octagon for the first time in her brief UFC tenure.
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At UFC Fight Night: Barboza vs Murphy, Ducote faces Vanessa Demopoulos, who comes into the fight having won four of her last five. Ducote understands “Lil’ Monster” likely wants to get the fight to the ground, but generally, she is expecting a bit of a wild contest on May 18, touting her opponent as “a chaos.”
“She will do whatever to get (the fight) where she wants,” Ducote said. “A cartwheel here, flip there, whatever. I just think she's a very aggressive, chaotic fighter who wants to hit the ground.”
With five submissions on Demopoulos’ record, that description tracks, but Ducote is confident. Her own finishing record is rather even. Of her seven stoppage wins, four came via tap out and three via knockout, and while she hasn’t shown a lot of her grappling prowess in the UFC just yet, she believes in her skills wherever the fight may lead.
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One part adding to her confidence is Ducote’s overall comfort fighting at the highest level, naturally, but also getting more work with her peers (and a couple former opponents to boot). Ahead of this fight, Ducote went out to San Diego to work with Jessica Penne and Angela Hill, whom she beat and lost to, respectively. The trip is one she made ahead of her fight with Yoder, and Ducote said she is “loving” the training.
Following her loss to Hill, Ducote realized she needed to dig into the “mentality” of the two veterans, which included knowing when to just “go for it” instead of sticking to the “correct” way of doing things.
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The 30-year-old also went out to Colorado to work with Tecia Pennington, another perennially ranked strawweight who has faced the best at 115 pounds. As she continues to get more acclimated with everything surrounding a UFC bout, the more finely tuned Ducote feels as she makes the jaunt to the cage.
“I want to be more aggressive, but definitely still technical and under control,” Ducote said. “I'm pretty excited for the mix. I think we're going to hit everywhere, and I'm hoping to look really good.”
All things considered, Ducote is right where she wants to be. Sure, she’d like to have aced her opening quartet of bouts, but that’s just the fight game. By the looks of it, she learned the requisite lessons the losses provided and is going full steam ahead into her next bout.
She didn’t take the quickest or straightest path to the UFC, but the important part is she worked her way there at all. Now comes the business of staying, and Ducote is soaking up every bit of that process.
“I love it here,” she said. “I always want to fight the best of the best. This is where I need to be, this where I want to be, and I feel like I deserve to be here. I'm excited to keep it going."
UFC Fight Night: Barboza vs Murphy took place live from UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 18, 2024. See the final Prelim and Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
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