Pauline Macias: Never Forgetting the Best Tool in the ‘Toolbox’

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“Base-style” is a term that has been at the forefront of the mixed martial arts lexicon for decades. Many fighters enter the sport with one. Yet over the last decade, more athletes have decided to lean less on that base in an attempt to be a “well-rounded” mixed martial artist. Do not expect Legacy Fighting Alliance veteran Pauline Macias to subscribe to the latter theory. The multi-time judo national champion heads into her Dana White’s Contender Series bout knowing her strength, and is molding her MMA talents around the grappling advantage she has over many of her contemporaries.

“It’s hard to explain, but I very much like to remind myself all the time that I’m a judo player. I take the [MMA] tools that I’ve learned, put them in my toolbox and I just keep filling up that box. Because one day I may need that tool that isn’t a judo throw or submission. Obviously, I’m a judo player [and] going to do judo [because] nobody there can compete with my judo. Why would Khabib [Nurmagomedov] try to out strike someone that’s a striker, when he can just wrestle them. I just remind myself constantly who I am [and] where I came from.”

In her conversation with Sherdog, “Pita” spoke about her continued evolution as a combat athlete over her first four bouts and her excitement to compete for an Ultimate Fighting Championship contract on Nov. 17.