Although she is one of the newest additions to the UFC roster, Tracy Cortez has deep ties to one of the company’s biggest names. Not only does she train alongside the one that calls himself Triple C, she grew up alongside him as well.
I’ve known [Henry Cejudo and his brother] pretty much my whole life and I grew up with them. I’m really tight with their sisters, Cortez explained to The Top Turtle MMA Podcast. I love their family. They were there for us when we were going through tough times and losses. I love that family – I have nothing but good things to say about them.
Not only was Cejudo’s whole family there for hers in their time of need, but Cejudo has also been extremely helpful to her MMA career.
He’s very knowledgeable. Not only is he a great athlete, but he’s a smart person. He knows the mindset of going into all of this, she said. He has given me great advice. I’m really grateful to have people around me like that.
Having grown up with the current flyweight and bantamweight champ, Cortez is used to all of the questions. Chief among those is usually whether it’s weird to see a childhood friend thrust into the spotlight. For Cortez, she barely even thinks about it.
I’ve actually been asked that a couple times and I just see him as Henry, Cortez said. He’s just Henry to me.
Of course, a close second to being asked about him in the spotlight is a question about his current antics. While Cortez does just see Cejudo as ‘Henry’, she’s not immune to seeing the social media posts. Between callouts for intergender fights and the hashtag #bendtheknee, many see Cejudo as cringey or over confident. Once again, Cortez sees beyond that to the true Cejudo.
Henry, he can be humble. With me he doesn’t act like that – or around his teammates, she shares. But you got to do what you got to do.
Cortez will make her UFC debut this weekend against Vanessa Melo as part of the preliminary portion of UFC on ESPN+ 22 in Sao Paulo.
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Author Daniel Vreeland is a co-founder of the Top Turtle Podcast, a regular contributor to the UG Feed, and a brown belt in Jiu-Jitsu at New England Submission Fighting in Amherst, Massachusetts.
