Sam Hughes Is Ready To Put Her New Mindset To The Test

“That’s the most difficult part, and I think what has really helped me out, too, is I started back coaching,” she continues, a smile splashing across her face as she mentions her return to the track. “I’m coaching track and field at a high school, Westwood — shout out Wildcats! — and so I think it’s helped me be a better athlete.

“Telling my kids, ‘You worked hard out there, you gave it 100 percent effort; don’t beat yourself up,’ and then you go home and you’re like, ‘How ‘bout you start listening to your own advice? How ‘bout that?’”

Hughes laughs as the idea sounds so simplistic and obvious, but has clearly been something she’s struggled with since touching down in the UFC as a short-notice replacement opposite Tecia Pennington three-and-a-half years ago.

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“I think I got into the UFC a little too early, to be honest with you,” offers Hughes, who reached the UFC with a 5-1 record after not quite two years competing as a professional. “I was training for five years, and if I got into the UFC where I am now, I think my record would look a lot different.

“My mindset is in a different place, I just turned 32, so I think I’m just in a different place. I’m just taking everything with a ‘let’s just go out there and have fun and give ‘em f***** hell’ approach. Coach Sayif is always in my butt about ‘You’re the best when you’re having fun. You were like that your first two or three fights with me, so go out there and have fun.’

“I think people are gonna see — and I know everybody says this,” she adds, laughing as she interrupts herself to acknowledge the incoming cliche. “They’re gonna see a different me on Saturday night.”

This weekend’s bout with Dudakova is an interesting one for the strawweight mainstay — a second consecutive bout outside the United States after having competed there exclusively prior to this year, and a chance to share the cage with another undefeated opponent, one her team has already prepared for once before.

Entering the contest with an 8-0 record that includes consecutive victories in the UFC, Dudakova is the third opponent without a loss Hughes has faced at this level, and the last time she shared the Octagon with an unbeaten prospect, she handed Brazilian jiu jitsu ace Jaqueline Amorim her first professional loss.

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“I’m glad that those are your words — that ‘you smashed Jaqueline Amorim’ because how good has she been doing right now?” Hughes asks rhetorically of her former opponent, who has since earned consecutive stoppage wins over Montserrat Conejo Ruiz and Cory McKenna to start making headway in the 115-pound weight class. “She’s killing it.

“I’m just excited to smash this newcomer, give her her first loss, and be like, ‘Welcome to the UFC! I’m ‘bout to show you a thing or two.’

“She’s in her backyard, basically, and she’s got the pressure on her,” she says of her Russian opponent, who will be making her second consecutive start in Abu Dhabi after having to withdraw from her scheduled bout in Atlantic City earlier this year at the 11th hour. “She’s trying to stay undefeated. I don’t have that pressure; everybody knows my record, knows me.

“But I’m a dog and I am ready to fight, put the pressure on her, and show her what it really means to be in the UFC and compete at the highest level.”

One of the elements helping bolster that confidence is that Dudakova’s last appearance came against another Fortis MMA representative, veteran Jinh Yu Frey, who went the distance with the unbeaten Russian, landing on the wrong side of 29-28 scorecards in a fight that was deadlocked heading into the final round.

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“That’s definitely the mentality that I’m bringing here,” Hughes confirms when asked about the impact of having Frey’s 15 minutes in the Octagon with Dudakova to draw from and build off of heading into Saturday’s contest. “I respect Jinh so much and she was such an asset to me when I first came to Fortis because she had been here for a couple years and she helped me out tremendously.

“I know there are some things she was struggling with, and where she waited in the third round and didn’t get the win. If she would have pushed in the third round, she would have gotten the nod, I believe, but I believe that’s where I’m strongest.