UFC Long Island Fighter to Watch: Emily Ducote
Former Invicta FC strawweight champ makes her promotional debut on Saturday against veteran contender Jessica Penne
Name: Emily Ducote
Nickname: Gordinha
Record: 11-6 overall; UFC Debut
Division: Strawweight
Team: American Top Team Oklahoma
Opponent: Jessica Penne (14-5 overall, 3-3 UFC)
There is a lot to like about UFC newcomer Emily Ducote, who debuts in Saturday’s opener opposite former title challenger and 2021 comeback standout Jessica Penne, who returned from a four-year hiatus to earn a pair of victories last year.
Using some of the factors and metrics discussed on Monday’s podcast, here’s what immediately jumps off the page about Ducote:
28 years old, 17 fights into her career
Fought quality competition throughout
Losses have come against top talent, most in a higher weight class
5-1 since moving to flyweight, including four finishes
Stoppage wins over Danielle Taylor and Alesha Zappitella to win and defend the Invicta FC strawweight title
Watching a couple of her fights since moving to strawweight, it’s clear she moves well, has good pop in her strikes and a varied striking arsenal, and she fights with confidence. She’s not looking for massive shots, but she’s not just pawing either; there is a crispness to everything she does that isn’t always present in the 115-pound weight class, and her previous experience fighting up in weight could be a contributing factor there.
Strange as this is going to sound to some, the fact that she’s lost a handful of times, including in championship fights, reads as promising to me, not disappointing, as she’s already gotten the “have to know defeat before you can know victory” piece out of the way, and she’s clearly learned from those experiences. Her losses at flyweight prompted the move to strawweight, and the loss to Kanako Murata has been followed by a three-fight winning streak over UFC vets Juliana Lima and Taylor, and the former Invicta FC atom weight champ Zappitella.
She profiles as a four-star prospect to me — someone that can be a Top 15 fixture for the next several years, and maybe even push for contention if things shake out in her favour, and she seems ready to hit that first marker right now.
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Part of why I selected Ducote as this week’s Fighter to Watch is because of the immediate impact this fight with Penne could potentially have in terms of her place in the division.
Regardless of whether you felt she deserved the nod or not in her return bout against Loopy Godinez, Penne fought well for someone that hadn’t competed in four years and battled injuries before that, and she looked outstanding in registering a first-round submission win over Karolina Kowalkiewicz just under four months later.
She’s experienced and established, entering the contest stationed in the Top 15, and the kind of veteran that should serve as a perfect entrance exam for the 28-year-old newcomer as she competes in the Octagon for the first time.
A win on Saturday would vault Ducote into the rankings after just a single fight and position her for future dates with other members of the lower-half of the rankings, depending on how impressive she is this weekend. To beat a tenured talent like Penne out of the chute would brand Ducote as someone to watch going forward, and with the right kind of effort Saturday on Long Island, could put her in the fast lane towards the top of the division, where a host of formidable, recognizable names reside.
But we can’t go putting the cart before the horse here — UFC debuts can be tricky, as can facing someone as experienced as Penne, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the early call time this weekend messes a couple people up, just because it will be such a departure from what they’re used to in terms of Fight Day routines.
This is absolutely a dangerous fight for Ducote and an instance where she could very well catch a loss, showing she needs a couple more fights to gain her footing before potentially starting to make a move forward in the division.
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We talk all the time about having questions about fighters, wanting to see them tested, and trying to make inferences and observations based on those fights, and this is a perfect confluence of all those things.
Ducote has looked very good over her last several outings and since moving to strawweight overall, but she’s facing a solid test on Saturday, which presents an opportunity for her to answer some of the immediate questions everyone has about her as she embarks on her UFC journey, chief among them, “Where does she fit in the division right now?”
A win over Penne will answer that, and bring more questions, bigger questions for the 28-year-old neophyte to answer inside the Octagon.
This is a tremendous way to open the show this weekend. I love that I get to see it at 8:15am PST with a steaming hot cup of coffee and a cool morning breeze blowing through my office window, and I’m very curious to see what the promising, already somewhat proven Ducote can show Saturday morning on Long Island.