A person day when Mariya Agapova hurt her ankle at American Top rated Crew, her manager Alex Davis introduced her above to his property, because she was likely to practice later on in the afternoon.
Davis took a nap, and his spouse advised him that Agapova was looking for a knife.
“The following factor I observed, she received her mentor on online video, demonstrating her how to bleed her ankle. An historical approach to avoid or get rid of the human body,” Davis explained. “She will come from Pavlodar, Kazakhstan. A very bad and extremely faraway area.”
Kazakhs carried the custom of bleeding as an alternate to drugs. If somebody has a Hematoma, they would slash it to release the blood.
“In my country medicine sucks. Medical doctors depart to other nations around the world since they pay back more. Men and women use drugs like this [bleeding],” Agapova reported. “I employed medicine like this way too, mainly because I did not have excellent options, so I healed it myself.”
Agapova decided to coach kickboxing at 9 a long time old, soon after the continuous violence she endured, increasing up in her hometown of Pavlodar.
“I would go to school and everybody would beat me up there, and on the road. I would go dwelling and my mother and father would defeat me up as properly,” Agapova claimed. “I acquired to a put that I experienced to protect myself.”
“My father died when I was 11 a long time outdated, and my mother labored all working day. I hanged out a ton in the streets with fellas, combating them and just building adventures.”
The Kazakh flyweight experienced aspirations to characterize Kazakhstan in the Olympic Games. She competed in novice boxing for seven yrs but by no means received referred to as up for tournaments. As an alternative, the national team’s coaches would only check with her to be section of their camps to support other fighters for their forthcoming fights.
“No one did not give me an opportunity simply because they noticed me as a no-title. The countrywide crew was comprehensive of corruption and politics,” Agapova claimed. “So, I was pissed off and switched to MMA. After a few fights, they referred to as me back again, but I said f-ck all those b-tches and made the decision to continue to be in MMA.”
The UFC flyweight arrived to the U.S for an prospect on Dana White’s Contender Series. Just after her reduction to Tracy Cortez, she joined Invicta FC and acquired two 1st-spherical finishes.
Kazakhstan’s Agapova observed achievements in the cage but struggled in her funds. She wasn’t getting sponsorships at the time. As an alternative, she experienced to offer drawings and paintings just to have some funds in her pocket.
“Those were being crazy times. I nearly couldn’t rest nor consume, shedding my thoughts and then the UFC signed me,” Agapova stated. “Now my lifestyle indicates one thing. I have no much more anxieties.”
Soon after a couple of bout cancellations, Agapova will eventually make her UFC debut when she satisfies Hannah Cifers in the prelims of UFC Combat Night: Eye vs Calvillo.
Linked
English
Arabic
Chinese (Simplified)
Dutch
French
German
Italian
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish