Athletes
Melissa Mullins | Nervous Excitement
English Bantamweight Hopes Her Wrestling And Grappling Will Entertain The Fans In A Country Rich In Wrestling History
They say nerves and excitement generate the same response in the human body, and England's Melissa Mullins is happily embracing both as she gets ready to be a part of the first UFC event in Azerbaijan.
Mullins will make the walk to the Octagon for the fourth time when she takes on Daria Zhelezniakova in a women's bantamweight bout in Baku on Saturday. It may be her fourth fight in the Octagon, but it's her first in a big arena after contesting her first three bouts in the UFC APEX in Las Vegas. It's a change she said she's not fully accustomed to, but it's one she'll relish on fight night.
"Fighting in an arena compared to the APEX, it's a whole new experience, so I haven't been able to visualize it or understand what it's going to feel like," she admitted.
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"But I get really excited, almost stupid nervous, at new experiences, almost like the excitement is more than nerves. I'm fully aware that Azerbaijan is very, very good for judo and very, very good for wrestling. Personally, my style of martial arts is my MMA grappling, my MMA jiu-jitsu – not so much submissions, I'm all about pinning and cooking them, and then punching them in the face. So I'm hoping that, as a female fighter, I'm able to put on that entertaining performance, in my own classic way."
Fighters often give similar answers when asked about pre-fight nerves or their overall mindset heading into bouts. But Mullins' response was a little different, as she detailed her inner battle between nervousness and excitement after getting her bout agreement signed. Despite fighting someone she's already faced, and finished, earlier in her career, those same emotions kicked in again ahead of this weekend's bout with Zhelezniakova.
"I think every fight for me is like a new fight, so I'm not quite sure if my head quite understands if I'm less or more confident going into this fight," she admitted.
"I get what I call my acknowledgement of the fight. And what happens is when I'm almost trying to relax and I'm laying down and I'm sleeping, all of a sudden my heart is like I've just drunk 50 energy drinks, and my belly is turning over, and I'm just thinking about all of the possibilities and the options of the fight and the situation where I'm fighting Daria.
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"I fought Daria before, so I'm aware of her striking power, and in my head, I'm just running over those emotions of being hit and what I've done in the work building up to it.
"So I don't think quite the experience of being in the Octagon has helped my confidence, but I would say it's like a steppingstone into what I'm experiencing here. The culture of the sport is clear, and everyone is surrounding me at points and asking for my autograph. That stuff's weird! I'm not used to it. It's completely different!"
Receiving attention as a UFC fighter helping break new ground in a new country may be a little different for Mullins, but the knowledge that she has already established a tried and tested route to victory over Zhelezniakova is certainly a benefit.
"I've always said it, and if anyone ever has read anything or seen anything I've said, I will never say no to a fight," she stated.
"It doesn't matter who it is or the sort of disadvantage or advantage I'm going to have, I will always say yes, because I'm in the fight game and I'm in the biggest organization. If I say no, then why am I here?
"I think my only angst towards fighting Daria was because when I first fought her, she broke my nose, and I never had my nose broken before. It didn't hurt, but it was just like, 'Oh s**t! I'm in the middle of the fight, and my nose is just going (side to side) while I'm rubbing it against her, trying to hold her to the cage.
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"I'm fully aware that Daria isn't doing too well in regard to the ground game – in my fight and the two last fights that she's had in the UFC – and unfortunately for her, my capitalization of this fight is probably ground-based.
"I'm nervous and excited. I don't want to ever anticipate the fight, and I never want to predict where it's going to go. Obviously, I'd like to know in my head that I'm going to win, and I like to think that I'm going to win. But if I don't, I'll be disappointed.
"But I don't want to predict I'm gonna win and put bad omens out there. I'm not a crystals kind of person. I just want to make sure I'm going in there fully open-minded that I need to try my best in every single scenario."
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After her victory over Klaudia Sygula in November took her UFC record to 2-1 and 7-1 overall, Mullins was rewarded with a new four-fight contract. It gave Mullins a much-needed shot of confidence after missing weight for each of her last two bouts. Failing to make the contracted weight always brings criticism, but few will have understood the difficulties Mullins has faced when she arrives for fight week.
"Unfortunately – and this is quite out there – I've not had my menstrual cycle in... my app says 92 days," she revealed.
"All of my blood level markers are all coming back perfect. The only thing that says is that I'm overtraining, which is very common for me. I just like sport, I like training, I like doing the gym. I like what I do. No one can quite understand why (the menstrual cycle) is an issue with me.
"I know when I'm at a higher weight in terms of walking around normally, my cycle is on when I'm full of food. But when I start getting into camp and cutting weight, I lose my cycle.
"Everyone's aware that I've missed my weight for the last two fights. So to be given a new contract, I'm very thrilled, because I didn't expect it. It was just a relief that Mick (Maynard) wants to give me the opportunity to be able to showcase myself."
Mullins explained that she fully expected to make weight last time out, only to end up being unable to shift the last 0.9 of a pound.
"I was in the sauna on my last cut for 40 minutes in an 80-degree sauna with a sauna suit and a track suit on, and I lost 100 grams in the sauna. That's the bit everyone doesn't see. They just see me step on the scale, like, 'Ah, she's unprofessional. She missed weight.'
"So yeah, I'm happy to get a new contract, and making weight on Friday, I'm gonna have the biggest smile on the scale, because I've just worked so hard with my coach, Paul Reed. My manager has just hooked me up perfectly with this guy. So, yeah, I'm happy."
Mullins said she was at her best pre-fight weight at her fight week check-in, and fully expects there to be no problems on the scale. And, once she has overcome the hurdle of weigh-in day, all of her energy and excitement can turn to fight night itself, where a familiar foe will be waiting for her in the Octagon.
Mullins admitted that her ground game will likely give her the most straightforward path to victory, but she'd love nothing more than to produce an unexpected highlight-reel moment with her striking.
"With Daria being a striker, I would love to exchange with Daria and prove the caliber of my striking," she said.
"However, how I think it's going to go is we're going to tap hands in the middle. I'm going to try and punch her. She's going to punch me really hard, and then I'm going to either single-leg her, shoot to the hips, take her down and hold it there until I can find some kind of position whereby I'm either getting a submission, or violently beating down on her head with some elbows or hammer fists, or the most grittiest looking way to finish the fight.
"But ideally I'd like to strike with her and land some kind of up elbow or flying teep to a face, or flying knee to the face, that'd be brilliant!"
UFC Fight Night: Hill vs Rountree Jr. took place live from Baku Crystal Hall in Baku, Azerbaijan on June 21, 2025. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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