Maria Favela will return to the Invicta FC cage on Sept. 20 for a bantamweight clash with Maria Djukic. Regardless of the outcome of that fight, Favela has already scored the biggest win of her life.
Favela was diagnosed with Stage 3 Hodgkin Lymphoma in July 2023. With the money raised by a GoFundMe campaign, Favela underwent aggressive treatment before being declared cancer-free that December.
"They told me that I had a 50% chance of living," Favela said in a recent interview. "They treated me as if I was stage four, because I had lymphomas in my liver, in my hips, in my heart, and my lungs. Every gland becomes like a tumor. The doctors told me if I'm still pushing, I'll be passing out with a heart attack. My lungs were doing 90% of the work, and my heart was taking most of the oxygen.
"... My friend helped me make a GoFundMe, and the whole MMA community came to support. Even Cynthia Calvillo and Dana White donated money. When you're fighting cancer, the last thing that you have is time. Thanks to the MMA community and my family, I was able to pay for private treatment."
Favela last fought in 2022, scoring a third-round TKO on the regional scene to bounce back from back-to-back losses in the Invicta cage.
If she'd had it her way, a return to action would have come sooner.
"I was feeling I had to do it at least one more time for me," Favela said. "I wanted to fight before my PET scan in June, but it was impossible. My coaches were like, 'No, you're crazy. You need more time.' But if I'm gonna fight, I'm gonna fight. And I'm gonna enjoy every single second, no matter what happens."
Favela has not yet experienced victory in the Invicta cage, but she believes the experience of her battle with cancer has given her an edge the previous version of herself as a fighter did not possess. But the relationship between fighting and battling cancer has had benefits going both directions.
"You're going to see a Maria who won't have any fear," Favela said. "You're going to see a more aggressive Maria, one who is more technical. For six months, I endured surgeries, chemotherapies, weekly blood tests, and losing my hair. I'm not scared of being out of the comfort zone. ... When I was doing treatments, I was in the fight mode. You don't think about fear, you do what you have to do. It doesn't matter how uncomfortable you are in a situation, you keep pushing. The fight game was keeping me motivated, because I was really determined that I wanted to make my dream come true. My body was becoming like a cage or a trap... I was fighting against my own body."
