Tracy Cortez‘s UFC career has been hindered by multiple long layoffs, most recently due to severe injuries from an off-roading accident, prompting her to reduce risky activities and focus more on her professional athleticism.
If there’s one thing that’s slowed Tracy Cortez’s rise in the UFC, it’s her long layoffs. She’s been out of action for at least nine months on four different occasions.
The latest incident happened after Cortez defeated Jasmine Jasudavicius at the first-ever Noche UFC card this past September. Her post-fight celebration ended with another lengthy absence from the sport.
As she gears up to face Rose Namajunas in the UFC Denver main event on Saturday, Cortez revealed an off-roading accident in a dune buggy sidelined her for several months. “I was dealing with some injuries again,” Cortez said on The MMA Hour.
“Shortly after my last fight, I’m an adrenaline junkie so I like to go off-roading, cliff jumping, I’m an outdoors kind of person, right? After the fight, my friends were like, ‘Hey, we’re going to go to Glamis [Dunes] off-roading, can-ams, razors,’ and we went and got into a really bad accident.”
The Imperial Sand Dunes, also known as Glamis, are the largest mass of sand dunes in California. It’s a popular spot for off-road enthusiasts.
Unfortunately for Cortez, she suffered a slew of injuries after riding in a vehicle that crashed and rolled several times. “I was the one that came out the worst,” she admitted.
“We were in the dunes and it was just a bunch of dust and we ended up crashing inside a ditch,” Cortez explained. “So I [hit] hard and didn’t have my seatbelt on.”
“There’s two seatbelts: a waist one and then a chest one. I had only attached the chest one—it’s like a dog collar—and didn’t click my helmet.”
Cortez says it took her several months to recover from that ordeal. That’s why she didn’t book another fight until July—10 months after her most recent UFC win.
“A few months [to recover],” Cortez said. “I fought in September and just started getting into it again.”
Because she’s always been an adventure seeker, Cortez had to take a step back from her outside-the-cage activities after such an accident. It could have easily gone even worse for her.
“My team and manager were like, ‘Do you need a chaperone? Do you need someone to babysit you?’” Cortez said with a laugh.
“But this time around,” she added seriously, “I’m just going to stay home. No more trips until the end of the year when I’ll treat myself to bungee jumping or something.”
That experience taught Cortez a valuable lesson but she’s not staying away from risk-taking activities altogether.
Instead, she’ll cut down how many times she gets involved in those perilous adventures. She’ll pick and choose her spots moving forward.
“After that accident,” she reflected thoughtfully,”it made me realize… talking to my mentor and coaches—they lectured me about how my body is my job.”
“I said all right,” concluded Cortez with resolve,”let me respect my coaches who spend so much time on me… compose myself as a professional athlete.”