Gina Mazany plans to put the pace on Julia Avila at UFC on ESPN 10

Following a first-round TKO win over Valerie Barney at KOTC: Golden Fights in January, bantamweight Gina Mazany was looking to continue her winning ways as 2020 progressed when the novel coronavirus struck and temporarily put a halt to those plans.

Luckily for Mazany, events in her private life provided her an outlet to keep herself busy during lockdown.

“I had the win in January, then the pandemic hit, but Tim (Elliott) and I had just bought a house, so it was honestly kind of nice so we could move in and put our stuff away,” Mazany told MMAWeekly.com.

“I got to unpack boxes that I hadn’t unpacked in years. The first few weeks of the pandemic we just kind of stayed home and chilled and relaxed a little bit.”

While there was a lot of uncertainty about the state of MMA’s future during the early parts of lockdown, for Mazany the situation wasn’t difficult to adapt to.

“To be fair, I feel with MMA especially it’s a very unpredictable sport and literally anything can happen at any given time,” said Mazany. “Having that feeling towards it wasn’t anything new.

“Not being signed with anybody and not knowing kind of sucked, but I believed in my heart with my training and everything that I put into this sport that my story with the UFC wasn’t over, so I kept that feeling inside and let it drive me to where I am now.”

Mazany (6-3) looks to pick up her second win in a row when she faces Julia Avila (7-1) in a bantamweight preliminary bout at UFC Fight Night: Eye vs. Calvillo on Saturday in Las Vegas.

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“I think it’s going to put on a good show for sure,” Mazany said. “I think (Avila’s) good at everything. She’s good on the ground, good at striking, good at wrestling, but you kind of have to be in this sport.

“That’s good for me because she doesn’t specialize (in anything). I don’t have to worry about a crazy overhand right or a crazy wrestling takedown. To win this fight I just have to get in her face and be better at everything she’s good at. I have to put on a pace, and that’s kind of what I do in a fight.”

As a fighter who has been through stretches of inactivity in the past, Mazany is hoping that she will have more opportunities to compete in the remaining year.

“I’m just trying to play it step by step,” said Mazany. “Definitely get this one out of the way, and then hopefully get something quickly after that.

“I like to get back as soon as possible fighting, but unfortunately that hasn’t been in the cards for me in a minute, but hopefully that’ll happen soon.”

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