Ailin Perez responds to Nora Cornolle’s UFC 314 callout

Nora Cornolle called out Ailin Perez, and now she has a response.

After her submission win at UFC 314 in Miami, Cornolle (9-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) took the microphone and let the world know that she wants Perez (12-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) next. Perez doesn’t think the French fighter is deserving of the opportunity, and she’s angling for higher-level opposition. But, if the UFC wants the bout, Perez sees it as an easy paycheck.

“My reaction to her callout, I saw she mentioned me a few times, she’s very needy and in need of a fight against someone with a name, so that’s why she wants to fight me,” Perez told Hablemos MMA in Spanish. “My opinion on Nora is that is easy money. She obviously doesn’t deserve to fight me, but if the UFC thinks she needs the fight, then I fight her.

“It would be an easy fight for me to make a return from my surgery, and we can even do it in France in front of her fans. That’s no problem.”

Although Cornolle finished her fight against Hailey Cowan in the second round, Perez was not impressed with what she saw that night – which makes her interest in the fight even less.

“I thought the fight was terrible because it was so boring,” Perez said. “The only thing that saved that fight was the submission because no one was paying attention to that fight. I was like half watching it on my phone on my way to the arena.”

Since losing her UFC debut in 2022, Perez has won five in a row, with her most recent win coming in January when she defeated veteran contender Karol Rosa to punch her ticket into the top-10 rankings of the UFC women’s bantamweight division.

Perez revealed in the same interview that she underwent shoulder surgery on Feb. 7 and has been recovering since. She’s just getting back to light training, and her doctors expect her to be ready to fight by September or October.