View: https://youtu.be/Y32tR08_LIk
For the majority of her time spent fighting under the Bellator banner, Julia Budd has been known as a champion. Although she lost that status this past year and is nearing age 40, there's no intention of slowing down just yet.
Turning 38 in July, the former 145-pound featherweight queen in Budd is just as good as ever and is perhaps even more motivated now that she has to work to reclaim her title. In the time since her reign concluded in January 2020, her fellow lone champion of Bellator at flyweight, Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, also fell from her throne. While Macfarlane was a lot more relieved to not have that championship pressure anymore, Budd can't say the same.
"No, I'd say it's a different feeling for me, I didn't feel that," Budd told MyMMANews. "I felt differently about it, I just think we're all different. It was hard for me to lose that fight, I put a lot into it and I really prepared properly and felt like I was going to defend my title successfully. But obviously, rolling with it and learning from it, it was a good experience. You always learn more from your losses than your wins in the first place so it was okay.
"I was happy I got to get back into the cage last August and get a win against Jessy Miele and I'm looking forward to fighting next week."
Continued: Julia Budd ready to make a statement as she comes full circle with return to Showtime