It’s been over 21 months since UFC flyweight Mariya Agapova competed in the Octagon.
In September of 2022, Agapova suffered her second-consecutive submission loss. After a strong 8-1 start to her professional mixed martial arts career, with her only defeat in that span coming against Tracy Cortez, who headlines Saturday night’s event against former champion Rose Namajunas, Agapova knew something needed to change.
At first, it was her training regimen. After suffering back-to-back submission losses, both in the first round, grappling needed to be addressed. Starting at three jiu-jitsu sessions a week, Agapova moved to five, then eventually eight to nine sessions per week.
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As she sharpened her tools on the mat, “Money Mashka” wanted to start building her strength. For the first five years of her professional MMA career, Agapova was a vegan. After taking some inspiration from her coach, a former fighter who said being a vegan hindered his own performance when competing, Agapova began adding meat and more protein-rich foods into her diet.
“To be honest, the fight with Gillian Robertson, I was eating meat for two months,” Agapova said. “Now I’ve already been eating meat for two years. I think my body changed; I got stronger. I’m sure I got a lot more muscles because I was consuming a lot of protein. UFC was sending me a lot of fish, so I ate fish and have more muscles now. Whoever wants to be vegan and an MMA fighter, don’t do it. My managers tell me that when he was a fighter, he became vegan and lost all his fights and went back to eating meat. I was vegan for five years and that really ruined my health and I have all these injuries.”

Physically, Agapova’s felt the best she’s had her whole career. But after making all these changes to her diet and training, something still wasn’t right. Prior to her fight with Robertson, Agapova would train during the day and work as a security guard throughout the night until the early morning. The job was draining and not sustainable for someone trying to make their living in the ever-demanding sport of mixed martial arts.
“I was working security my last fight camp,” Agapova said. “I would not sleep until 4:00 a.m. [I was] dealing with crackheads and different drunk people. It just didn’t work out for my career; it didn’t work out for my last fight week. After I had surgery, I realized I need to do something else because the next time I have a fight, I can’t be working as a security guard.
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“I do what I love for money. That’s the important thing. When I was in Kazakhstan, some people, they wake up to work they hate. They hate their coworkers, they hate their life but they still come to the job. I decided that I’m not going to be like this.”
Agapova traded in her uniform to learn a new skill she’s far more passionate in: tattooing
“I decided to learn how to tattoo and now I tattoo on the side. It’s kind of my side hustle. Now I have a lot of tattoo artist friends and they teach me how to do things.”

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Now in the best physical and mental space of her career, Agapova can be fully focused on her next big challenge ahead: a fight with Luana Santos in The Mile High City.
While Santos is known for her jiu-jitsu, she proved she was more than just a grappler in her UFC debut, when she finished The Ultimate Fighter Season 30 winner Julianna Miller in the first round via strikes.
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While Santos is becoming a more well-rounded fighter, Agapova believes Santos will try to exploit the grappling deficiencies shown on tape, deficiencies that have received constant attention by Agapova and her coaches for nearly two years.
“I think she has very good jiu-jitsu,” Agapova said. “I think she’s going to try to push me against the wall and try to take me down and submit me. If she watched my other fight, that’s what my last opponent did. I’m sure she’s going to do this, and we’re prepared.”

Not only has Agapova been training jiu-jitsu nine times a week, she’s even tried her hand in a professional grappling match in May to feel the emotions of a fight week and get real grappling experience ahead of her return to the Octagon.
“Before the match I was worried, just like other matches,” Agapova said. “That helps mentally to go there. Even though I lost, I still enjoyed everything. For this fight, it was good experience.”
“I really want to win… I will make it happen. I did everything to make it happen.”
UFC Fight Night: Namajunas vs Cortez took place live from Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado on July 13, 2024. See the Final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!