Athletes
Macy Chiasson Feels Everything Coming Together
In The Biggest Fight Of Her Career, Macy Chiasson Is Feeling Sharper Than Ever Ahead Of UFC Fight Night: Blanchfield vs Barber
When Macy Chiasson won The Ultimate Fighter in November 2018, she had just four professional bouts on her record. At that point, most fighters are still working through the regional scene, but winning the tournament meant Chiasson, then 27, would have to take those early career lumps at the highest level of the sport.
In the ensuing seven years, that’s what happened. There were highs, including four finishes and three performances bonuses, but there were lows, too. At times, Chiasson struggled with the weight cut or just making it through a camp with a clean bill of health, and she couldn’t stir up the momentum to move up the rankings. She seemed to turn the corner in 2024, however. With a steeled mentality and altered approach to training, Chiasson hit the best form of her career and earned stoppage wins over Pannie Kianzad and Mayra Bueno Silva to cement her spot in the Top 5.
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Afterward, she sought a fight that would put her in the title conversation, which came in the form of Ketlen Vieira. An injury forced the matchup to move from February to May 31, but in the 33-year-old Chiasson’s eyes, it’s all coming together right on time.
“I told myself, right when I got into the UFC, that by the time I turned 34, I was going to be either at a title or close to it,” Chiasson told UFC.com. “It's just trusting in that process, and just making sure that the universe is trusting in me, as well.”
That ease of mind wasn’t always a natural state for Chiasson. In the past, she would run herself down for the sake of working hard, but in the last couple years, Chiasson has tweaked and refined her approach to the fight game. That means resting when her body needs it and remembering to find joy in the sport where it can be found.
So, when a calf injury knocked her out of the original February date against Vieira, she didn’t allow the setback to derail her. She worried, of course, because she desperately wanted to fight the Brazilian, who has been in and around the title picture for the better part of the decade, but once she healed, she just got back to work. When the matchup was officially rescheduled for May 31, she continued tightening everything in her game.
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“I just feel like there's a maturity part of it that I'm leaning into now, that it is what it is,” she said “You continue to stay ready. You can't control everything in the world. And it's just picking and choosing what you're deciding to worry about. Once you enter the Top 5, I don't mind having extra time to chip away at the skills and add more tools to the toolbelt.”
One of the tools she continues to sharpen is her grappling. Chiasson profiled herself as a striker when she first entered the scene, but she credits wrestling coach Kyle Crutchmer as a big reason she feels more confident in her complete skillset. It has showed in the results, as well. In her first four UFC fights (including her TUF Finale winning bout), she didn’t land a single takedown. Since then, she has landed at least one in every bout, including a career-high six against Norma Dumont.
She’ll need every bit of every skill against Vieira, who boasts four submissions and two knockouts on her professional record. Chiasson, who said she essentially spent back-to-back camps studying Vieira, knows what she is in for on fight night.
“I just need to not allow her to play her game,” Chiasson said. “I'm going to play mine, and it's going to be that back and forth, kind of chess match. I'm just so familiar with the way that this girl fights, and it's not to say that they may be doing something different. I would hope so. That's what all of us should be doing as athletes in training, adding something to our repertoire, but as long as I stick to my game plan and what I have been doing for the last year for her, I should be able to do this in my sleep.”
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That confidence speaks a lot to the maturation process that always feels top of mind for Chiasson, but every camp comes with its challenges. In this case, the challenge was preparing to welcome a child with her partner, Hannah.
Chiasson mentioned balancing the grind of a fight camp with supporting her wife going through a pregnancy, but she sees the beauty in it.
“It was a lot of give and take, wanting to support her, but then feeling like I couldn't support her the way that I wanted to,” Chiasson said. “The same goes for her. Her feeling isolated because she is going through this process and then I'm in the middle of a fight camp. I feel like we've grown a lot, and it is a beautiful process. Even though it is hard, it is beautiful. Just like fighting. Fighting is considered a violent act, a violent sport, but when I go in there, I feel free, I feel open, and I feel authentic, and I feel like that the whole IVF process and pregnancy has been very similar.
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There's a lot of growth there, and it's been like peeling back layers; it’s a really beautiful process. She's putting her body through something that I'm not, so there's a lot of us trying to understand each other, and I think we've grown a lot as a couple, and I think it's going to be an awesome story.”
Between the timing of her fight with Vieira and expecting their daughter in July, Chiasson doesn’t anticipate fighting in her hometown of New Orleans when the Octagon heads there for UFC 318: Poirier vs Holloway 3. Although she was initially disappointed, she believes the “stars aligned” for this upcoming fight, and she still plans to attend the event on July 19.
Being present is a difficult task for any athlete, but particularly so for fighters early in their career. Chiasson seems to have found a grip on that aspect of the game, and she hopes to show the rest of her work when it comes to fight night. A big performance could set her up to fight for a title, especially with the belt up for grabs the following weekend at UFC 316: Dvalishvili vs O’Malley 2. In general, she anticipates a lot of fun fights coming down the pike in the bantamweight division, but that’s all down the road. First comes her fight with Vieira, and then comes navigating motherhood to a newborn.
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After that, though, who knows, but Chiasson knows she’ll be ready for any and all of it.
“This is exactly where I'm supposed to be,” Chiasson said. “The universe said, right now, this is it. I truly believe in that. It's so important to have that mindset with what you do. No questions asked. This is it.”
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