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Pearl Gonzalez was released from the UFC after she suffered back-to-back defeats in the world's largest MMA promotion back in 2017.
Gonzalez was signed by the UFC after she racked up an impressive 6-1 record in her professional mixed martial arts career. However, she promptly lost to Cynthia Calvillo at UFC 210 and Poliana Botelho at UFC 216 in her two octagon appearances and was cut.
Following her UFC exit, 'The Chi-Town Princess' told MMA Fighting that she deserved to be cut. Ahead of the Botelho bout, she and her husband were supposed to move from Chicago to Virginia as part of his United States Navy service. But he was suddenly shifted to Japan instead and she lost concentration on fighting as a result.
"I don’t think that I was mentally prepared for that [Botelho] fight. I had so much going on in my life personally with my husband moving, with us moving across the country that I took on too much at once. It was probably the worst performance of my career... I’ve worked very hard for over a decade at getting to the UFC and fighting in the UFC and fighting at the highest level. And when I failed at that, it really did take me. I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to compete in this sport anymore. I had to find that passion, that inner drive that kept me in the sport for half of my life. To do that, it brought out a different animal in me."
Pearl Gonzalez then signed with Invicta FC in 2018. She began her career as a strawweight but later moved to flyweight, unsuccessfully challenging Vanessa Porto for the vacant 125lb-division championship in February 2019.
After a six fight stint at Invicta FC, Gonzalez moved to the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship earlier this year. She debuted with a win in the promotion, but eventually announced her exit following a loss to Britan Hart.
Pearl Gonzalez is currently 10-5 in MMA and is a former XFC women's strawweight champion.
Pearl Gonzalez co-hosts a podcast for UFC Fight Pass called 'Extra Rounds'
A podcast called 'Extra Rounds' is being produced and hosted by MMA personality TJ De Santis for the UFC Fight Pass network. Despite her release from the promotion, Pearl Gonzalez has remained on the UFC produced podcast as one of the hosts alongside De Santis.
The likes of former fighter Din Thomas and one of the top MMA coaches, Ray Longo, have also worked as co-hosts on the show.
The podcast has gone on for 106 episodes as of now, and has shown no signs of stopping.
