EDMONTON — Katlyn Cerminara marked her return after two years away with a milestone at UFC Edmonton, stopping Mackenzie Stiller with a head kick on the preliminary card at Rogers Place to earn her first finish inside the octagon after 18 fights. The victory came after a layoff during which she gave birth to a baby girl.
“I’ve had a lot of UFC fights, and it was my first finish. It’s definitely what I always train for, and I know that I’m able to do that, so it’s nice to be able to show that,” Cerminara (19-6), a former women’s flyweight title challenger, told media outlets including Cageside Press backstage at Rogers Place.
The 37-year-old said she wants to get back to work “as soon as possible” after rapid progress at her new camp. “I feel like the last few weeks at my new camp, I’ve just been learning so much. I just want to build off of that, because I can just tell, I’ve only been there a short time, and I’ve learned so much and gotten so much better that it’s just compounding each training session,” she said. “I want to stay active. I took that long layoff. No injuries, as soon as possible, if there’s a last minute fight, something I can take, that would be awesome.”
Cerminara, who has spoken publicly about struggles to conceive and a tragic miscarriage she endured alongside her husband, said stepping away from the sport was never seriously considered. “Not really, but I don’t know if that’s because I’ve been training my whole life. I started Karate when I was four. So I don’t even, it’s hard for me to picture my life without it,” she said. “I just never really thought about that. I just figured, have the baby, keep going, do whatever.” She added she remains motivated by newfound focus in training: “I don’t feel like I’m at the point of my career where I’m just taking it fight by fight. I feel like I’m still growing and still getting so much better,” she stated, noting she had previously challenged for a world title while “training all over the place and not having a super-focused camp” and is now “really excited to see what I can do.”