After UFC release and retirement thoughts, Pearl Gonzalez promises evolution in Invicta debut

She and her husband were supposed to move from Chicago to Virginia as part of his U.S. Navy service. Instead, just as they were sorting out the move, he was told he’d actually be going somewhere else — to Japan for a year or more. And Gonzalez could not go with him.

While all this was going on, Gonzalez was trying to prepare for her fight with Poliano Botelho at UFC 216 in October. Gonzalez ended up losing by unanimous decision, her second straight loss in as many fights with the promotion.

“I don’t think that I was mentally prepared for that fight,” Gonzalez told MMA Fighting. “I had so much going on in my life personally with my husband moving, with us moving across the country that I took…