Ana Julaton has made it no secret that she wants to throw down with Brooklyn’s Heather Hardy.

This Friday, former boxing world champion Ana Julaton (2-2 MMA, 19-4-1 boxing) will make her Bellator MMA debut against Lisa Blaine (1-0 MMA) on the main card of Bellator 185 in Uncasville, Connecticut. Also on the main card, Heather “The Heat” Hardy (1-0 MMA, 21-0 boxing) makes her sophomore MMA appearance against Kristina Williams (pro debut, 3-0 amateur).

The Filipino boxing sensation, Julaton, hopes that a victory on Friday night against Blaine will solidify a future fight with “The Heat”.

Julaton has been vocal in her desire to face Hardy, in either boxing or MMA. Most recently she told The Telegraph, “I believe Heather is avoiding me. She did in boxing. We both want the belt, but I want to fight her too. We will meet. She can run, but she can’t hide.”

She explains, “My boxing promoter is Alex Tremblay and he knows Lou Di Bella (Heather Hardy’s promoter), they’ve known each other for a long time. They’ve been in talks. We tried to get a fight with Heather for boxing a few years ago.”

Julaton claims Hardy has been on her radar for a while. She continues, “In Heather Hardy’ seventh fight she fought someone who was 4-3. In my seventh fight, I had to fight someone (Kelsey Jeffries) who was a legend in my division. She’d had over 50 fights in her hometown. I had to fight her and I beat her.”

“I’m not trying to complain. I’m a fighter at the end of the day and whatever comes in my way I have to find a way to make it work for me. I had to surround myself with the right people and deal with the facts of the matter. Boxing is tough, the business part is tough. If you want to crack it, you’ve got to be ready to crack.”

The 37-year-old made her MMA debut for ONE FC in 2014. From 2014-2015, she amassed an MMA record of 2-2, alternating wins and losses.

Source: Gareth A Davies, The Telegraph (click here to access)

Would you like to see Julaton and Hardy face off in the future?