ONE ON ONE FT. ISABEL AZEVEDO

The video begins by focusing in on a studio, pulled away from the hustle and bustle that goes into making a Union GP show run. Posters on the wall hype the upcoming UGP 67, and we eventually move to a desk–on one side, Isaac Cohen, looking, as ever, the picture of professionalism; on the other, the Featherweight Champion, Isabel Azevedo, who’s slumped a bit in her seat, looking more like she’s fresh off her weigh-in than anything. It takes Izzi a second to straighten up once the camera’s recording, but she eventually manages it, having a brief conversation with the translator beside her before nodding.

ISAAC COHEN: “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another edition of Union Grand Prix’s One on One series! My name is Isaac Cohen, I’m joined today by the Union GP Featherweight Champion, who makes her second defense of that title this weekend against fast rising star Verona Jimenez–please welcome, Isabel Azevedo, everybody!”

Izzi smiles that all too familiar smile, giving a wave to the camera as she’s introduced.

ISAAC COHEN: “Izzi, thank you for taking the time to join us.”

ISABEL AZEVEDO: “(My pleasure.)”

ISAAC COHEN: “Before we get into anything about this weekend, the past few months have been pretty hectic for you–you were supposed to fight last month at UGP 66, against Lucija Dragicevic, until an injury scrapped the fight at the last second; walk us through how you found out about that cancellation.”

ISABEL AZEVEDO: “(Yeah, so…we’d heard something about there might be an issue, but nobody had any details, so I figured it was more of like, maybe she missed weight or something like that. That’s not ideal, obviously, but it’s not a game changer, everyone’s dealt with struggles with the scale before. Maybe it doesn’t end up being a title fight if she can’t make weight, but a fight is a fight, still, right? And when nothing new came out at first, it was just…maybe somebody overreacted to something happening, who knows. As far as the actual cancellation, I found out when everyone else found out, when it was made public on Twitter.)”

ISAAC COHEN: “There were talks about hopefully salvaging the fight that night, obviously that didn’t end up happening but do you have any idea how close they were to finding a new challenger on that kind of short notice?”

Izzi just shrugs and shakes her head no.

ISABEL AZEVEDO: “(I kept making my own preparations in case something got done, but I wasn’t really clued in to how likely it was. I just knew I couldn’t afford to let myself relax, if they did find someone, so I kept my routine up for fight week. Obviously, it never happened, but it’s better to be over-prepared than under-prepared, right?)”

ISAAC COHEN: “And that obviously brings us to this fight, now with Verona Jimenez, who had been one of a couple of fighters to jump at the opportunity to fill that vacancy. But Verona brings an entirely different style to this fight than Lucija would have, has that affected your preparation at all?”

ISABEL AZEVEDO: “(Not really, I mean, obviously it affects strategy when the fight begins, but as far as preparation goes, I’m always trying to improve in every aspect of the fight. I was working to improve on my striking ahead of the fight with Lucija because that’s…pretty clearly the weaker aspect of her game, and I thought I could build on the advantage I feel like I already would’ve had–now, with Verona, like I said, it obviously shifts the strategy, but any improvement I can make to close the distance between us in terms of striking is an improvement.)”

Isaac nods a little bit, tapping a finger against the table for a moment.

ISAAC COHEN: “There are quite a few similarities between your career since moving up to 145 lbs, and Verona’s career since coming to Union GP–including the fact that both of you are 4-0 in basically the same period of time. That said, I think it’s fair to say the quality of competition has been different; a familiar foe of yours, Rachel Parsons, was easily the toughest test of Verona’s career up to this point, and the fight between them was a close decision…”

ISABEL AZEVEDO: “(Yeah, that was a fight that…I’ll be honest, I was a little surprised she got the win that night. I thought Rachel just about won the last round, it was close but I had it going the other way. But…I’m very happily not a judge, I was just watching the fight, so my vote doesn’t count for anything. She got her hand raised, bumped up to 4-0–and I know, it’s easy to point to her early opponents and talk about that, but…you can only fight who’s put in front of you, right? Dante, Cass, they lined the matches up, Verona just fought whoever was on the other side of the cage. And she’s been convincing since she came here, no doubt about it.)”

ISAAC COHEN: “This fight seems like a classic case of striker vs. grappler, although we’ve definitely seen you able to stand and trade punches with other fighters in the past–you mentioned a minute ago, working on improving your striking, is that something you want to show in this fight?”

Izzi just laughs a little bit.

ISABEL AZEVEDO: “(I want to do whatever it takes to win. I work on improving because I want to improve, not because I need everyone to see it. I think it’s probably the worst kept secret on the planet, but Verona’s never had to deal with anyone that fights like I do–not since coming to Union, anyway. I’m sure she’s working on improving her ground game, especially since she started talking about a title opportunity, but…I feel comfortable saying there’s going to be a drastic skill difference between us when the fight hits the mat. And that’s really my concern at this point, getting the fight where I have the biggest advantage. Against Lucija, that was probably going to be on the feet–against Verona, that’s not gonna be the case. So…if the fight stays on the feet, and I can show how much I’ve improved there, great. But my goal is to do what I have to do to keep my title, not show off.)”

ISAAC COHEN: “There’s also the elephant in the room–we aren’t far from Verona’s hometown of Guadalajara, there will obviously be a pretty significant home court advantage for her in this fight; is that something you’re thinking about, going into the fight this weekend?”

ISABEL AZEVEDO: “(I’m…really not thinking about that. That’s awesome for her, I’m glad she gets this kind of opportunity; I remember my first shot at the Bantamweight Title was in Brazil, I remember the energy that came from fighting in front of my people, but I also remember how that fight went. I also remember the adrenaline dump I felt, a couple rounds in, when things weren’t quite going right. So it can be a benefit, or it can be a problem. But that’s something I can’t control–I don’t get to pick and choose when and where I fight, and I prefer to focus on the things that are in my hands. I can control how the fight happens, but I can’t control where it happens. We happen to be close to Verona’s home? That’s awesome for her–but being in someone else’s backyard isn’t exactly new for me. Almost every fight I take is in or near someone else’s home, I’m more than used to being the…the ’away team,’ I guess. I don’t mind being the villain for the night, if that’s what it takes; as far as I’m concerned, this is just another fight, and I’ve got bigger things to focus on than whether she gets cheered more than I do or whatever.)”

ISAAC COHEN: “Hard to argue with that.”

Isaac gives Izzi a moment to see if there’s anything else she wants to say, but when the Featherweight Champion doesn’t, he moves to close the interview out.

ISAAC COHEN: “Izzi, thank you so much for the time today, best of luck this weekend.”

ISABEL AZEVEDO: “(Thank you!)”

And with that, the interview fades to black, and the video cuts.