Allycia Hellen Rodrigues has waited a long time to defend her ONE atomweight muay Thai world title, and her long road back to the ONE circle ends on March 24.

That evening, the Brazilian striker takes on interim queen Janet Todd in the co-main event of ONE Fight Night 8, which broadcasts live and free on Amazon Prime Video at 8 p.m. ET.

The pair were originally scheduled to battle and unify the belts in December, but Todd tested positive for COVID-19 in the days leading up to the bout, which caused the ONE atomweight muay Thai world title unification match to be postponed.

Rodrigues captured the belt back in August 2020 with a split-decision win over Thai superstar Stamp Fairtex. Shortly after, she announced her intention to put her career on hold as she was pregnant with her first child.

The world was ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic as Rodrigues sat on the sidelines in 2020 and 2021. With that in mind, the 24-year-old feels that the timing could not have been better for her to start a family.

“I was at the peak of my career and had just won the belt, but we were also facing a pandemic right at the time. So, I believe that everything that has happened in my life has been at the right time,” she said.

Any athlete who becomes a mother will attest to the fact that returning to competition is not easy.

Rodrigues was no exception, but the Phuket Fight Club representative feels that now she has had the time that she needed to get her body back to a point where it can stand up to the rigors of fighting.

“After I returned to Thailand, the restart was a bit difficult, but today, there’s nothing in training that I can’t do. I didn’t need to change anything, I just needed to give it time and respect my body,” she said.

Now that the work has been done, all that is left to do is fight for the undisputed ONE atomweight muay Thai world championship.

But it’s not just the 26-pound golden belt that motivates Rodrigues. She now has a family to fight for.

According to Rodrigues, defending her title against a legend in “JT” would be the pinnacle of her fighting career to date – and she doesn’t plan to stop there.

“It represents my whole story – getting to where I am now, fighting at one of the biggest events in the world, and showing that I’m the champion and that I’m back to stay,” she said.

“Fighting the best and being able to defend my title with all my strength is my dream.”