Prospect Sabina Mazo motivated by opening of UFC women’s flyweight division ahead of fight at LFA 23

A women’s flyweight prospect is in the making at Legacy Fighting Alliance.

Colombian fighter Sabina Mazo will be returning to the cage this Friday at LFA 23 following her viral head-kick knockout earlier this year that picked up close to 1.5 million views on YouTube. The 20-year-old Mazo will be taking on Linsey Williams in the main card of the event, which is set to go down in Bossier City, La.

Having set the bar quite high in her last performance, many expect great things from the unbeaten fighter at Friday’s event. Yet, despite the hype that’s been built around her, Mazo doesn’t feel pressure to deliver something grand in her bout with Williams.

“Since I left the cage that night, I know that the video went viral in the following weeks, but that is now in the past,” Mazo told MMA Fighting. “The truth is that, I obviously learn a lot from my fights, but I always set a next goal for myself so I don’t carry any feelings from the previous fight. I don’t carry any of those comments of people saying, ‘what a kick,’ no, I always focus on giving the best of me in every fight, so I only go in the fight with that. There is no pressure and I’m going to demonstrate that with a better fight.”

Between her last fight in April, and her upcoming bout this weekend, a lot has happened in women’s MMA, especially regarding Mazo’s weight class. During the summer, the UFC added a women’s 125-pound division, filling in the gap that existed between women’s bantamweight (135 pounds) and strawweight (115 pounds) in the UFC.

The addition of her weight class in the leading MMA promotion has given Mazo extra motivation to continue fighting for her dreams of one day becoming a UFC fighter.

“Yes, of course that motivates me a lot,” Mazo explained. “My objective has always been to get to the UFC, but even if they wouldn’t have opened the division, I would’ve done something. But now, it just makes it easier, so it did motivate me a lot knowing that many more fighters are going to be able to join the division. And step-by-step and with each fight I’ll be able to demonstrate that I deserve to be there.”

The Kings MMA product believes she could very well compete in the UFC if given the opportunity. However, attending college in pursuit of a degree in nutrition and only being three fights into her professional fighting career, Mazo would like to continue getting experience under her belt at LFA, so when she gets the UFC call, she could really make a statement.

“I do feel 100 percent prepared,” Mazo said. “If I were to fight in the UFC today, I’d be 100 percent ready. The only thing is that I do want to pick up a little more experience, so that I not only win, but also put on a Fight of the Night or win a Knockout of the Night, you know, something more meaningful that could help my career.”