Former Swiss judoka is doing really well in the UFC with a victory last weekend over Jessica-Rose Clark with a first-round armbar at UFC Fight Night 201 in Las Vegas. Egger was four time Swiss senior champion and she was European U23 Champion in 2010 in Sarajevo and won a few medals at European Cup level.
During her judo career she suffered a few injuries and she turned into MMA and signed an agreement with Ares fighting for the First Afro-European MMA League. Since last year she signed with the UFC and has been successful so far in her new sport. Obviously given her judo skills she is compared to UFC’s Wall of Famer Ronda Rousey, but Egger doesn’t want that comparison.
Egger (33): “I already fought against her in judo, so I know her. But I’m Stephanie. She’s Ronda. I want to go my own way in MMA.”
The Swiss fought against Rousey (35) in 2007 in Braunschweig at the European Cup, which was at that time the main preparation event for the 2007 World Championships in Rio where Rousey took a world silver medal. At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing Rousey claimed a bronze medal. Egger’s main performance was becoming European Champion in 2010 in a final against Laura Vargas Koch, the later Olympic bronze medallist in the Rio Olympic Games.
Egger was satisfied about last weekend’s performance who has back-to-back stoppage wins after a loss in her UFC debut. “I think it was a good performance. Last fight, I won in the second round. This fight, (it was) the first round. … I was thinking she’d do more standup, but then she was looking for the clinch. It was a little bit surprising, but it worked good for me.”
Her next goal is to get back as soon as possible. “I want to fight a lot. Maybe a top-10 contender would be great. It doesn’t matter (who it is). Top 10 is good for me.” She said at a press conference.