Coming off her first loss in over a year this past December against Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, Emily Ducote’s main concern heading into her March bout with Katy Collins at Bellator 174 was to get back on track.
“We wanted to make sure everything worked and we were prepared so we could go in there, get the win and move on,” Ducote told MMAWeekly.com. “I feel like it might not have been entertaining, but we fought a smart fight.
“We countered (Collins’) wrestling, her power and her strengths. I got on top, got to work my ground and was able to get the finish late in the first round. I really wanted to get that win and get back on track.”
Rather than her motivation against Collins be a “win at all costs” situation, Ducote was more concerned with making sure the issued that plagued her in her loss to Macfarlane didn’t happen again.
“I learned a lot from my fight in December and wanted to correct all of the mistakes,” said Ducote. “That was more of what it was. I wanted to get all of my stuff back on track.
“I wasn’t so concerned with losing again – because that’s not the end of the world – but I just wanted to correct my mistakes from December.”
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Ducote (5-2) returns to Bellator to take on late replacement Jessica Middleton (2-1) in a 125-pound main card bout on Friday in Thackerville, Okla.
“I have spent this camp working all of my skills; my stand-up, my wrestling and my ground,” Ducote said. “I don’t I need to take the fight to the ground – like a lot of people are thinking – to get the win. I feel like what I want show is that I can be anywhere and can win all positions.”
With Bellator recently having signed numerous fighters in her weight class, Ducote is looking forward to the competition, but intends to take each fight one at a time and not overwhelm herself.
“Really we’re just taking this one fight, one opponent, at a time,” said Ducote. “That’s what it is for me. This is the next fight, and I want to go in there and show my skills, and that’s it.
“We had a good set of girls before, but especially with the six that they’ve signed, it’s pretty exciting. I want to see who everyone is matched up with. I want to see who wins the fights. So there’s a lot of new talent coming in.”
