CFFC 97's Hilarie Rose says Contender Series loss only served to bring her one step closer to UFC dream

Hilarie Rose had her first brush with the big show late last year, and while she came up short, she said the loss made her next moves clear.

Hilarie Rose had her first brush with the big show late last year, when she was invited to compete at Dana White’s Contender Series. Unfortunately for the strawweight prospect, she lost a unanimous decision to Cheyanne Buys, who was awarded a UFC contract for the performance.

But Rose said the evening actually proved quite valuable in her career progression, even if she didn’t get the result she had initially wanted.

“I actually thought it was a huge learning lesson for me,” Rose said. “It kind of made me rethink, not my career, but rethink how I wanted to get to the UFC and that I didn’t want to rush myself. I don’t want to get into the UFC and get there and then have a short-lived career. I want to get in there and feel comfortable and feel like I can handle the rest of the girls there – and it’s not that I didn’t think that I could hang with the girls there and, you know, keep up with them. But there were a lot of things I lacked.

“Cheyanne had a lot of muscle and was much stronger than me, and it was something that I needed to focus on. So after that fight, I spent the last five, six months putting on four to five pounds of just muscle and building my strength and getting stronger.”

Rose’s progression was evident this past April, when she used a devastating barrage of leg kicks to score a second-round TKO of Alannah Arnett at CFFC 95.

“I definitely knew that I would have more experience than the girl that I was fighting, and that was obviously going to be an advantage for me,” Rose said. “But really, it was more just dictating the pace and controlling the fighting, landing the strikes that I saw were open.

“I felt really comfortable in there, especially after coming off of the loss on Contender. I wanted to go in there and kind of feel like I could get my groove back and get my bearings back.”

CFFC strawweight champion Elise Reed was in the building for Rose’s latest win and immediately realized the two were destined for a fight.

The two had briefly been paired together earlier in the year, but the bout failed to materialize. Now Reed (3-0) puts her title on the line against Rose (5-2) in the headlining bout of Saturday’s CFFC 97, which streams live on UFC Fight Pass from Philadelphia’s 2300 Arena.

It’s a quick turnaround for Rose, but she said the opportunity to fight for the belt means it was worth the sacrifice.

“Ideally I was hoping to fight on the July card,” Rose said. “I wanted a little bit of time, but we knew that Elise was probably going to be my next fight, so I didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to fight her. She obviously has a very unique style and she moves a lot, and I’ve never fought somebody with her style, so it’s definitely going to be a new challenge for me, but it’s definitely something that I think that I can control the pace and have an advantage.”

Indeed, Reed does present a unique challenge to any opponent, and she’s shown an ability to adapt to any style she faces early in her career. But Rose believes that’s exactly the type of opponent needed at this stage of her progression, as she’s prepping not just to get to the UFC but to stay there once she arrives.

“I think that opportunity comes at the right time, and I think losing on Contender was actually a really good thing for me,” Rose said. “I think that it opened my eyes to things that I lacked, and now I kind of have the opportunity to try the things that I’ve worked on and the strength that I’ve built on my body. If the UFC calls after this, I’m going to take the opportunity because you don’t say no to an opportunity like that. But also if that opportunity doesn’t come, I’m totally open to, if I win the belt, defending the belt a few times or even once this year and just getting experience.

“I don’t want to have a short career in the UFC. You see a lot of people who get in there really early in their career and then they don’t end up staying there, so I need a few fights on my record, and that’s what Mick Maynard and Dana White and all these people want for me, to get a little more experience. I’m OK with that.”

Should Rose be the first to hand Reed a loss, she will almost certainly be entertaining offers from the UFC once again, but the 28-year-old prospect said she’s not even considering that possibility right now. Saturday is about proving she’s taken the lessons given to her in defeat and making sure she’s better prepared for the next time around.

“I’m super grateful to CFFC for giving me the opportunity to fight for the belt and to my management, Suckerpunch,” Rose said. “I’m grateful for them for getting me this opportunity as well, helping me kind of get back on my feet after losing on Contender. So grateful for them, grateful for my coaches and everybody that is in my corner. I’m looking forward to putting on a good performance.”

This story first published at CFFC.tv.