Earlier this month, following the UFC 210 early weigh-ins, UFC women’s bantamweight Pearl Gonzalez was informed that she would be unable to compete the following evening due to her breast implants.

Reports from those in attendance at the weigh-ins immediately began to emerge, revealing that Gonzalez would be unable to fight due to the implants. Ultimately, UFC President Dana White took to social media to inform fans that the issue had been resolved following a phone call with Gonzalez’ doctor, and Gonzalez would be able to make her UFC debut the following night.

Unfortunately for Pearl Gonzalez, when she stepped into the Octagon with undefeated Cynthia Calvillo, she was handed a third round submission.

Now however, in an interview with MMAFighting, Gonzalez opened up about the emotional situation, and how it affected her mindset going into the fight.

“I think that mentally it kind of pulled me away from the task at hand and the task at hand is always to win,” Gonzalez said “And so, not that it at all is an excuse, it was a lot for me to take in and go through.”

“Did they look into it enough before they jumped the [gun]?” Gonzalez said. “No, but at the end of the day there was nothing I could do about it. I don’t blame them. They did jump the gun, but we all do that in our lives, I believe.”

In regards to what Gonzalez could have done differently in the situation, she admitted that she shouldn’t have become so emotional, crying and telling her team in public that she was unable to fight with the implants.

“It was a lot to take in,” Gonzalez said. “I thought I did the best that I could to kind of put that to the side. But I realize today after the outcome of the fight that I could have done a lot more to stay focused and completely have that tunnel vision for that fight.”

This article first appeared on www.BJPenn.com on 4/28/2017.