In Photos: Tracy Cortez honors late brother's dream with emotional UFC journey

UFC flyweight Tracy Cortez recently shared a heartfelt message about her late brother Jose Cortez on social media. Cortez uploaded a post to her Instagram, which included pictures of herself with her brother. The first picture in the post showed her upcoming fight against former UFC champion Rose Namajunas.

Check out screenshots of the pictures uploaded by Cortez:

Tracy Cortez shares a heartfelt tribute for her brother

Tracy Cortez dedicates her next fight to Joe Cortez

In the caption of the post, the 30-year-old shared how her brother had dreamed of competing in the UFC. Cortez spoke about her MMA journey and declared that she would dedicate her upcoming fight to her brother Jose. She wrote:

"Before passing away, your dream was to be in the UFC... In your honor, I worked and busted my a** to make your dream come true brother... In the midst of this crazy journey, I started seeing myself becoming the best in the world, your dream became mine... July 13th, I'm having the biggest fight of my career... this is for you Jose!"

Check out Tracy Cortez's Instagram post below:

Jose Cortez was an MMA fighter who wished to be a part of the UFC. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with germ-cell cancer in 2008. This put a halt on his plans as he battled cancer for about three years and unfortunately, passed away in 2011.

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Tracy Cortez will headline her first UFC event

Tracy Cortez is all set to headline the first UFC card of her career. The Arizona native will lock horns against former strawweight queen Rose Namajunas on July 13. The fight will consist of five round and will be held at the Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado.

Originally, the fight card was scheduled to have a clash between Namajunas and Maycee Barber as the main event, but Barber had to pull out of the fight due to health problems. This resulted in Cortez stepping in as her replacement.

Cortez is currently riding an 11-fight win streak and has an overall professional record of 11-1. 'Thug,' on the other hand, is coming off a unanimous decision victory against Amanda Ribas in March 2024. This victory helped Namajunas break her two-fight skid in the promotion.

So, it will be interesting to see whether Cortez will continue her dominant run or if Namajunas manages to build on her momentum on July 13 to work her way up to a title shot.