It’s been just over two years since female strawweight veteran Lynn Alvarez stepped into an MMA cage.
In no fewer than three fights, Alvarez has been forced to drop out due to injury. Most recently she had to cancel her scheduled bout with DeAnna Bennett for Invicta FC in February of last year.
“That was definitely devastating for me because I was in really great shape, I thought it was a really good match-up, and then in a sparring session I ended up breaking one of my toes,” Alvarez told MMAWeekly.com. “That’s pretty much kept me sidelined for that fight.”
Alvarez was due to return for Invicta FC 13 four months later, but again wasn’t healthy enough to get a scheduled opponent. Since then she’s been hard at work upping her game and believes she’ll be a much improved fighter when she returns.
“Honestly, I feel like that was so long ago that I feel like a very much different fighter,” she said. “I’ve been working a lot on my wrestling now, so I feel I’m way better-rounded than before. My ground game has definitely evolved. Over time, everything just gets better; even my striking has gotten better as well.”
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Alvarez (6-3) will finally get back to fighting on July 29 in Kansas City, Mo., when she takes on late replacement Mizuki Inoue (11-4) in a main card 115-pound bout at Invicta FC 18.
“In my camp, I train to be the best that I can be,” said Alvarez. “Of course I game plan a little bit, but it’s still about focusing on my strategy.
“The fact that my opponent did change, I’ll change up a few strategy things, but I still think I’m at the advantage, because in reality, she’s only got a few weeks prepare for me, whereas I’ve been preparing for eight weeks or so.”
Alvarez also doesn’t seem too concerned with the experience advantage that Inoue possess, because at the end of the day it’s what she does in the cage that matters, not what her opponent does.
“For me, it doesn’t matter who I face,” Alvarez said. “I feel I’ve fought a few of the best people out there like Carla Esparza and Jessica Aguilar, so not really many people intimidate me that much because I feel like I’ve been in there with some of the best people, so I don’t think too much about who I’m going up against.”
Having spent so long on the road to recovery, Alvarez is looking forward to being more active in the year to come.
“I have a three-fight deal with Invicta, so I’ll have two more to go,” she said. “I would like to fight again this year with them.”
