It’s the mixed martial arts dream that has yet to come to fruition.
A UFC event outdoors at Aloha Stadium in the state that has produced over 20 UFC fighters and two UFC world champions past and present.
If that day ever comes, there is one UFC up-and-comer who can say she’s already done it.
Waianae’s Rachael Ostovich, who will attempt to move to 2-0 in the UFC with a win over Montana De La Rosa in a flyweight bout in Friday’s The Ultimate Fighter Finale event in Las Vegas, won her first professional fight in the south end zone at Aloha Stadium on a muggy July night in 2014.
In the co-main event of a locally run X-1 mixed martial arts fight card, Ostovich, more than four years after her amateur debut, submitted Misha Nassiri to jump-start her career.
“Fighting at Aloha Stadium underneath the stars was pretty cool,” Ostovich said Wednesday. “Waiting in the big locker rooms and being in such a big venue, it was something truly special … and I can promise you the UFC coming here would be such an unreal event.”
That night was the lift-off point for Ostovich’s run in MMA that has now taken her to her first televised live fight.
Ostovichwill be one of eight fights Friday aired on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 2 p.m. and ending with a main event between No. 8-ranked middleweight Brad Tavares, a Waiakea alumnus, and undefeated prospect Israel Adesanya.
It’s the first of back-to-back events as part of International Fight Week in the UFC. Saturday’s UFC 226 pay-per-view was expected to include Waianae’s Max Holloway and Makaha’s Yancy Medeiros, but both will not compete. Holloway was pulled late Wednesday night due to concussion-like symptoms and Medeiros had to withdraw from his fight against Mike Perry last week with a rib injury.
“There are so many amazing fighters fighting this week and it’s really cool to be a part of,” said Ostovich, who submitted Karine Gevorgyan at the last TUF Finale event in December. “Seeing all of these UFC fighters and knowing I’m right here with everyone else is kind of like — I don’t want to blow it out of proportion and keep my mind straight — but I am fan-girling it a little bit.”
After Ostovich’s win at the stadium, she fought four times in Invicta Fighting Championships, an all-women’s organization, going 2-2 with a TKO loss in her last fight that left her stumped about her future.
Following that defeat, Ostovich found her love for the sport again while helping ONE atomweight world champion Angela Lee of Mililani train for a title defense in Singapore.
Ostovich was planning to attend Lee’s fight when the UFC posted tryouts for an upcoming Ultimate Fighter season. One of the two divisions listed was a surprise — a women’s 125-pound weight class.
“Up until that point, there was no talks of a 125 division and I automatically knew this was it, this was my chance,” Ostovich said. “I didn’t have any sponsors or any money to fly me up, it was all God helping me, and I went through the tryouts and had an amazing experience and it was about a month before they called me back.”
Ostovich was selected for the show and won her first fight to advance before losing a unanimous decision.
She was impressive enough on the show to get a shot to fight on the undercard of the finale and made it count with a first-round submission win in 100 seconds.
“Previously I was getting only one fight a year so when I had three fights in that span of time, which is a lot, I was really happy,” Ostovich said. “I felt like I really got to make up for all of that time lost, and after my December debut, I’m here now and I hope to keep things rolling because I want to keep fighting.”
Tavares, who grew up in Hilo but has spent his eight-year UFC career in Las Vegas, is also hoping to keep things rolling.
A four-fight winning streak has moved Tavares up to eighth in the 185-pound rankings heading into his fight against Adesanya, who is unranked, but a prospect with a high ceiling who is the headliner in just his third appearance with the company.
“He’s going to have to be in that cage with me,” Tavares said to the media on Wednesday. “All that talking and all of his mental preparation or lack thereof is not going to help him one way or another.”