Valerie Letourneau 'not impressed' with UFC Fight Night 74 opponent Maryna Moroz

SASKATOON – Maryna Moroz received tremendous praise following her stunning first-round submission upset of Joanne Calderwood in April.

UFC Fight Night 74 opponent Valerie Letourneau said she’s not riding the Moroz bandwagon.

Letourneau (7-3 MMA, 2-0 UFC), who meets Moroz (6-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) in the FOX Sports 1-televised main card opener this Sunday at SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, said she’s faced some of the best women’s fighters in the world and doesn’t see what the all the hype is about.

“Not impressed – she doesn’t have anything that I’ve never been through before,” Letourneau told MMAjunkie. “I always fought tough opponents. You look at Claudia Gadelha, Sarah Kaufman, Alexis Davis – I mean, that’s all experience that I have that no one is going to take away from me.

“I’m not impressed. I know her strengths, I know her weakness and I’m going to use it.”

“Trouble” experienced multiple losses prior to her UFC debut in June 2014. Since joining the organization, though, she’s 2-0 with victories over Elizabeth Phillips and Jessica Rakoczy.

Letourneau is the only female fighter in UFC history to earn wins in multiple weight classes. She beat Phillips at bantamweight  prior to the decision to drop 20 pounds and two weight classes to strawweight to defeat Rakoczy.

The 32-year-old admits her first weight cut to 115 pounds was grueling, mostly because of circumstances beyond her control, but said she feels significant healthier in the days leading up to her second strawweight appearance.

“Right now it feels great; we’ll see the day when I’m cutting the rest of the weight how it feels, but it should be better,” Letourneau said. “I just had really bad timing also in Montreal, for a girl, I was starting my period exactly at the weigh-in – that’s the worst timing. Not to complain or give any reasons, but that’s seriously the worst time to cut water.”

With her weight-cut seemingly in order, Letourneau plans to deliver a performance that will lead to Moroz’s first pro loss. Letourneau said she’s not surprised she’s currently the betting underdog (+160), but she intends to prove oddsmakers wrong and show that the praise for Moroz is unjust.

“I’m not surprised (she’s the favorite), especially because she beat ‘JoJo’ so quick,” Letourneau said. “I’m a fighter. I analyze the fight differently from the crowd. I know ‘JoJo’ wasn’t at her best, that’s for sure. You can tell even before the fight starts. Not to take anything away from this girl, but I would love to see that fight again. It would be a different result.”

Letourneau said she wants to steal the attention from Moroz and take it for herself. In order to do that, she must leave the octagon with a clear-cut victory. Letourneau’s first two UFC wins have come by decision, but after assessing Moroz’s game during training camp, she feels her first UFC finish is on the horizon.

“I like stand-up, so it’s probably going to be a stand-up war,” Letourneau said. “She has good stand-up too. She didn’t show it that much (in her UFC debut) because it was short fight, but you can tell she has good hands and will exchange. I would love to finish the fight quick, we always want that.”

For more on UFC Fight Night 74, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.