Global Courant 2023-04-28 20:01:14
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Author of the article:
The Canadian Press
Neil Davidson
Published April 28, 2023 • read for 4 minutes
A UFC belt is held aloft during a press conference in Las Vegas, Thursday, October 4, 2018. Jamey-Lyn Horth told herself she would retire from martial arts if she didn’t make it to the UFC by the time she was 33. The undefeated fighter from Squamish, BC, finally got the call from the UFC six days before her 33rd birthday and Horth will make her UFC debut in Las Vegas on Saturday. Photo by John Locher /THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Jamey-Lyn Horth told herself she would quit martial arts if she didn’t make it to the UFC by the time she was 33.
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The undefeated fighter from Squamish, BC finally got the call from the UFC in March, six days before her 33rd birthday, and will make her UFC debut in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Horth (5-0-0) takes on American (All Hail) Hailey Cowan (7-2-0) on a Fight Night map.
“I would give myself until I was 33 to see where my career would take me,” Horth explained. “And if things didn’t go the way we thought I would end up, then I would make some changes in my life and start focusing on bringing in an income for my family and some things I want to fall back on.” once I’m done fighting.
“And I said 33 just because I thought 33 is a good number. I like things that fit together consistently.”
Horth last fought in December 2021 when she dispatched Brazil’s Mayra Cantuaria on LFA 120 to win the vacant Legacy Fighting Alliance flyweight title in Prior Lake, Minn. The win came despite a nasty knee injury she suffered early in the fight.
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Caught in a knee bar in the first round, Horth looked down to see that her leg was not where it should be.
The injury, which makes for some difficult viewing, left her leg looking like “a noodle.”
“Physically my body said ‘Go on,’ but mentally my body said, ‘What are you doing?'” she recalls.
Amazingly, Horth went ahead and beat the Brazilian until choking her less than two minutes into the third round.
“I learned a little bit about myself as an athlete,” Horth said. “It was pretty cool to get through that and come out on top with a win.”
She later discovered she had torn her posterior and lateral cruciate ligaments, as well as the popliteus muscles and tendons behind the knee. “And pretty much the entire lower calf has done a lot of damage,” she added.
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She was told surgery to repair the damage would keep her out for a year. But tests showed she had enough stability in the knee to wear a leg brace, which she wore 24/7 for three months.
It took six months to return to full training. Finally healthy again, Horth waited for another fight.
“Not many opponents wanted to fight me in 2022,” she said.
Finally, Horth was matched against Sabina (Colombian Queen) Mazo at LFA 148 in December 2022. But Mazo was injured less than three weeks before the fight, which was rescheduled for May but saw Mazo confined to a walking boot.
Saturday’s main event at the UFC’s Apex production facility is China’s Yadong (Kung Fu Kid) Song, eighth of the bantamweight contenders, against No. 10 Ricky Simon of the US.
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Song and Simon were scheduled to meet on a UFC card last Saturday, but the bout was postponed for a week after an injury forced Brazilian Renato (Carneiro) Moicano, ranked 13th among UFC lightweight contenders, out of next Saturday’s scheduled main event against No. 8. Arman (Ahalkalakets) Tsarukyan of Russia.
Bantamweight Brian (Boom) Kelleher, lightweight Pete (Dead Game) Rodriguez and Swiss welterweight Ange (The Last Ninja) Loosa all had to retire.
UFC newcomer Marcus (The Maniac) McGhee has replaced Kelleher against Journey Newson for a 140-pound catchweight fight. Trey (The Truth) Waters, who is making his UFC debut after winning the LFA welterweight title two weeks ago, takes on Josh (The Renegade) Quinlan for Loosea.
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Rodriguez’s fight with Israeli Natan (Lethal) Levy has been dropped from the card.
Horth, who says her leg is stronger than ever because of the rehab work she put into it, moves up from flyweight (125) to bantamweight (135 pounds) to fight Cowan.
“It is a conversation with my team that I could potentially be a 135er. I’m a really big 125er,” Horth said. “I’ve never had a problem making weight (as a flyweight), but it’s definitely a cut to make 125.”
Horth, who had her first amateur fight in November 2016 and made her pro debut in March 2018, was introduced to martial arts through friends – initially as a soccer cross-training partner.
“Look, here I am still stuck in the gym,” she said with a chuckle.
Which she co-owns. Horth, whose head coach is Jay Jauncey, and her fiancé Kasey Smith run The Sound Martial Arts in Squamish. Her brother-in-law is former UFC fighter Cole (The Cole Train) Smith.
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In late 2020, Horth retired from her job as a local sporting goods store manager, awaiting a chance to showcase her talents in “Dana White’s Contender Series”, a pipeline to the UFC, after winning the Battlefield Fight flyweight title earlier that year. League won.
The Contender Series door never opened, and Horth refused a work visa two weeks before the scheduled fight that had already been postponed. Horth continued to train full-time, with the pandemic disrupting fight schedules.
“It wasn’t anyone’s fault, but it sure was a very frustrating time,” Horth said.
The 31-year-old Cowan earned her UFC contract with a split-decision victory over Brazil’s Claudia Leite in August in the Contender Series. Cowan, a former gymnast who won an acrobatics and tumbling national title at Baylor University, is a southpaw who likes to push opponents against the cage and hold them there, according to Horth.
Cowan also makes her UFC debut, calling off two early bouts in the promotion.
“Like every other athlete in the UFC, these are the best of the best,” said Horth. “I expect a tough fight.”
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This report from The Canadian Press was first published on April 28, 2023
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