At this stage in her life and the fight game, mixed martial arts has become a philosophical journey for Ramona Pascual. “It becomes spiritual,” said the 32-year-old , who had her first Muay Thai fight in 2011. “How do I transcend what I am physically capable of, or what I am mentally capable of? How do I push past set limits and how do I go beyond that? That’s deeply spiritual I feel, in every way. ” Hong Kong’s quintessential female MMA fighter (4-2) stands on the precipice of another life-changing dive in the deep end. At the end of this board is Las Vegas, the fight capital of the world. Pascual returned to Hong Kong from the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s state-of-the-art Performance Institute facility in Shanghai , where she had been based again since October via its Academy Programme. This was Pascual’s second stint at the 93,000-square foot, US$13 million compound, the world’s largest MMA training ground when it opened in June of 2019. Her first endeavour was cut short by the coronavirus last year, but she signed with UFC icon Conor McGregor’s management team – Paradigm Sports – in August, giving us a hint of things to come. Now Pascual sees Covid-19 impacting her fight game again, as finding opponents in the bantamweight (57.2-61.2kg) class is difficult, even more so during a global pandemic. Hong Kong’s Pascual back at UFC Academy – ‘I just want to fight’ But regardless of the indecision around having fights booked then dropped (she was originally shooting for a January tilt), time at the UFC training grounds gave her the chance to expand her “bandwidth”. Suffering via the UFC’s insanely demanding training programme was just what she needed. “Every time I get there I feel fresh,” Pascual said. “And then you get into training and into fight camp, you start depleting and dieting, it’s really rare to feel good. Most of the time you feel like trash but that is what they are trying to condition you for. Adapt to being tired and they know they are pushing you to your limits.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ramona Pascual 黃大菁 (@ramonacarla) Twelve-hour days which included all types of training, recovery, dieting and mental check-ins are part of the UFC’s fulsome mind and body programme, something Pascual said is money in the bank as she moves forward. “Obviously it sucks, and it’s difficult,” she said about not being able to find a fight in China. “But at no point did it feel it was wasted time because it is the process I love. I enjoy the pain, I enjoy the suffering, I enjoy the highs and the lows. To really keep going and stay motivated, I’m not as mad or as sad about it as most people think because I got a lot out of it. I learned a lot, I developed a lot, I got a lot of confidence.” Pascual got on the phone with her manager and after a few conversations with a number of entities Las Vegas was pencilled in as the next destination. On February 19 she will fly stateside to train at a gym close by the UFC’s Performance Institute, where she will also have access to another state-of-the art facility for parts of her preparation. She said the goal is to fight and see what happens, and “go with the flow” given quarantining and an ongoing fight against Covid-19 makes planning difficult. Pascual will also get the chance to line up against American fighters, something she has never done before. “Obviously, MMA is a lot more developed in the US, also the discipline. There are more strikers in Asia, and more wrestlers and grapplers from the US,” Pascual said. “So stylistically it’s quite different. It will be interesting to see what that’s like.” MMA star Ramona Pascual has new goals after career-threatening injury Athletes have had their best-laid plans thrown into the blender since early last year. Most major sporting leagues were shut down by the end of March, and although most have returned, it has been in an entirely new landscape. At some point Pascual, who has also dealt with her fair share of injuries, stopped focusing on results and started focusing on where she was as a fighter and a person as her gauge and barometer. “I haven’t really been able to rely on any results because there is just no guarantees with the pandemic,” she said. “I’ve had to make the conscious decision to just focus on the process always. So it’s always how do I make the most of this day or session, this fight camp, this year, with no regrets. To stay ready, to develop, to work on different parts of my skill sets.” ‘Getting punched in the face is a walk in the park’: Hong Kong’s Ramona Pascual Las Vegas is known as the fight capital of the world and is the UFC’s home base. Most big name American fighters are based out of the city, and there are lots of fight cards Pascual could find herself on at short notice, thrown in the deep end. “I need to know and now is the time to test myself,” she said. “And I can’t just stay in Asia and fight girls who are maybe in the division below me naturally but cut a little less weight to be at my weight division, but aren’t really at my weight division. So I’m definitely ready and excited to see what that will be like.” One thing Pascual will head to the US with is a deeper sense of just how much she is willing to suffer to achieve her goals in the ring, and in life. “If I’m going to go down, it’s going to be in a blaze of glory. I’m OK with getting in there with the best and getting my ass handed to me,” she said. “It is what it is, I feel like over recent years, all the mental conditioning, I’ve definitely learned how to take a beating. That’s been the biggest thing. “Physically, mentally, emotionally, if you can’t take a beating and execute, nothing else matters.”