It’s not too often a UFC fighter escapes a bout relatively unscathed, but that is the reality for Jamey-Lyn Horth Wessels after her latest match-up in Atlanta, Georgia.
She won her fight against American fighter Vanessa Demopoulos on June 14 by unanimous decision, and walked away with only a few bruises on her shins.
“I am feeling good. It's like nothing has ever happened. It's crazy,” Horth Wessels told The 小蓝视频.
“Most of my fights have been a different style [but] this was an opportunity for me to showcase some more of my striking, so, you know, I have a couple bruises on my shins from kicking, but for the most part, like I didn't take any damage.”
Horth Wessels credits her pre-fight preparation for the positive outcome as well as the addition of a new dietitian to her team.
“I just felt like a completely different person,” she said.
“My conditioning has never been an issue, but I've just never felt as good as I did on Saturday night. So I think we're doing the right things, and that's a good plus.”
While she was originally matched up to fight Czech Republic fighter Tereza Bleda, a last-minute medical withdrawal saw fate hand Horth Wessels a new opponent.
“Well, my plan to fight both of them was the same. It was to put my striking on display and sort of keep the distance and touch and move and land my strikes standing,” she said.
“Then if things got to the ground, it was to get up if I felt like I needed to, if I was going to be out of strength or outmatched on the ground, it was to hit the ground and get back up and keep it standing. Because we do know that my striking is good, and we wanted to sort of rely on that.”
Horth Wessels trained throughout her fight camp with Lupita (Loopy) Godinez, who had previously fought Demopoulos back in 2020.
“I trained my whole fight camp with Loopy, so even though she wasn't the same body type as the original opponent I had ... it ended up paying off in the end, because of the opponent change,” she said.
“I feel like in some strange capacity, it was like I was preparing for this fight the whole fight camp.”
A change in style
Throughout her UFC career, Horth Wessels has only fought opponents who are left-handed (southpaw), but this time, she finally got her chance to face an orthodox fighter.
“I feel like I've sort of, not mastered the southpaw, but, I mean, I've fought six of them in a row, so my brain and my movement have been designed for a southpaw,” she said.
“Although I switch stances, which I did quite a bit in this fight as well ... I wasn't sure if it would feel like it was foreign to me, but it definitely didn't. I definitely felt very in tune and ready to go.”
Another difference between previous fights was the significant height difference between the two athletes.
At 5 feet 7 inches (170 cm) with a reach of 66 inches (168 cm), Horth Wessels towered over Demopoulos, who sits at 5 feet 2 inches (157 cm) and has a reach of 59.5 inches (151 cm).
On the experience, Horth Wessels said the height difference allowed her more opportunities to land her knees and elbows.
“When you fight, you want a head fight. It's about winning the head battle, and you want your head under their chin to keep them standing more upright. So when someone is quite a bit shorter than you, it means you just have to get a lot lower,” she said.
“I wasn't sure how that part would be, if it would give her an advantage to drop and change levels and sort of get lower on my hips to take me down.”
But Demopoulos was not able to capitalize on the potential advantage, with the overall fight score coming in at 30-27, 30-27, 30-27 in favour of Horth Wessels.
“I didn't think she could touch me. There was nothing she could do,” she said.
Despite the dominant display of skill, the two fighters ended the bout in an embrace, an action not often seen in the UFC octagon.
“It's not often that everybody's so grateful. But I mean, look at what I just went through. I went through nine weeks of fight camp just to find out my opponent was out to do a medical injury and that sucks. I don't get paid if I don't get to fight,” she said.
“So for her to step up on short notice, it means a lot. It means that these last nine weeks were not for absolutely nothing. So that's pretty special, and pretty cool.”
UFC Vancouver
It was announced earlier this month that the UFC octagon will return to Vancouver on Oct. 18. This will be the first time that Vancouver has hosted a UFC Fight Night since 2019, and Horth Wessels has her eyes set on a fight card.
“I'll fight whenever, as soon as and as often as I can, especially being healthy. And my team knows that we want to fight on that card. Why wouldn't I want to fight in my own backyard?” she said.
But the choice doesn’t lie in her hands.
“It's not necessarily just up to me. I put my name in there, and the matchmakers will obviously take that into consideration, and hopefully I'll get a match up here in the next little bit and be on that card,” she said.
In the meantime, Horth Wessels is doing her best to enjoy her time off, despite feeling a little restless.
“I always say it's fun to think about taking the time off and having a break, and then once the break comes, I'm two days into my break, and I'm already losing my marbles thinking what am I supposed to do every day,” she said with a laugh.
“You know, I'm a trained oiled machine, and I'm training six days a week, twice a day, and to go do absolutely nothing and have no obligations, it's hard but it's important. Breaks and rests are important, especially for the nervous system.
“So I'm going to embrace that. I have some fun little day retreats with Lululemon coming up this week and I'm just going to enjoy dog walks and coffee.”
Horth Wessels also has plans to launch a new run club by the end of this month, which will culminate in a five-kilometre race.
“Hopefully, by the end of this month, we'll have it all set out. We're hoping to have [it] in July/August … like an eight to 10 week lead up, and then have a little 5 km race sometime in September,” she said.
“We'll partner up with Lululemon and have it be a little event with prizes. So stay tuned for that.”
To keep up with Horth Wessels adventures and future fights, check out her
