Özyurt Calls Out Paty Juarez for a BKB Title Shot in Mexico
Hatice Özyurt is already looking past her 14 November fight. The 39-year-old said she wants champion Paty Juarez next, and she wants that fight in Mexico.
A title shot she says BKB owes her
Özyurt says she has fought for 27 years. She describes herself as a multi-time world champion, a European champion and a black belt. She is engaged, and she calls the BKB belt the goal she wants to reach before closing this chapter of her career. Becoming a mom is part of the next one.
She says she has told the organization it owes her a title shot. She promises to fly to Mexico a week or three weeks after her bout, even if she breaks her hand. She names BKB as her second home and the place where she wants to finish.
Her case against Juarez is about opposition. Özyurt respects her as a fighter and as a person, yet she says the champion always fights in Mexico and keeps meeting the same opponents. She names Kortni Kamyron as a very good fighter on that list.
She also says she tags Juarez on Instagram, sees the posts marked as seen and gets no reply. “It’s not hide and seek anymore,” she says.
Why she dismisses Jackie's clinch plan
First comes Jackie, her opponent on 14 November. Özyurt says Jackie's game plan is to clinch with her. She calls her a wrestler and a grappler and says she will not play along: “I’m not coming there to hug you.”
Her message is blunt. If Jackie does not want to trade strikes, she should not take a bare knuckle fight. Özyurt says the sport is not for everybody. In her words, a bare fist in the face shocks every fighter at first, whatever their background. One punch can leave a scar for life.
She has felt that shock herself. Last year she faced an opponent she says was about 80 pounds heavier, which was new to her. She is used to bare knuckle hits to the body from her kyokushin days, but she says she woke up in the first round of that fight.
For this camp she drills in the Netherlands with experienced professionals. Some of her sparring partners weigh close to 115 kilos, she says, with no head guard and no matching of weights. She argues that Dutch kickboxing sets a very high striking standard and that she fights the way she trains. Facing a choice between Jackie and another opponent, she picked Jackie at once, saying she deserves the platform.
The plan after Mexico
Özyurt says she wants to win the belt, close her chapter and then come back to defend it in 2027. She names a UFC fighter in her division, whose name she says she forgot, and a Canadian fighter called Kennedy as opponents she would like to face with the title in hand.
She predicts that a fight with Juarez would not last five rounds and says it will be the fight of the year.
She calls Juarez the queen of the division because of her title record. Özyurt says female fighters are not friends, but in the ring or the Trigon they have to fight a war. Outside it, she wants every woman and young girl to see what they can do.
Source: Cageside Press