CORY McKenna will swap California for Cardiff next weekend as she returns home intent on taking another step towards her goal of becoming the best female MMA fighter in the world.

The 20-year-old strawweight (4-1) from Cwmbran faces Belgium’s Griet Eeckhout (5-3-1) on the Cage Warriors 108 promotion at the Welsh capital’s Viola Arena.

Both women go into the fight following back-to-back wins, with the first of McKenna’s coming at the same venue in April when she recorded a second-round stoppage of Sweden’s Fannie Redman.

She then backed that up with a first-round defeat of Italian Giulia Chinello at Colchester Charter Hall, where she made her amateur debut five years ago – McKenna grew up in the Essex town.

The talented McKenna is coming to the end of a 12-week training camp in Sacramento, California where she has trained alongside the likes of UFC star Sara McMann.

It’s a trip McKenna has become used to making in the build-up to fights, and this one couldn’t have gone much better.

“I’ve come out here for a 12-week camp and I’ve been getting a lot of great training,” she said.

“I’m always travelling to gyms back home and moving around places to get as much experience as possible.

“I’m used to coming to America on my own, and I’ve been welcomed into the Team Alpha Male gym and made to feel really comfortable.

“It’s a great gym with great coaches. I’ve been spending time with Sara McMann, a UFC fighter who was the first USA woman to win an Olympic medal in wrestling.”

She added: “I want to fight the best, and I’m going in the right direction. I want to call myself the best in the world.”

McKenna, the only female fighter signed to Cage Warriors, may have won her last two contests, but she knows mistakes were made that needed to be worked on ahead of next Saturday’s clash.

“I made the same mistakes in the Colchester fight as I did in the one in Cardiff a month earlier,” she added.

“I wasn’t as switched on as I should have been in the first 15 seconds. It doesn’t sound that significant, but you can quickly get caught.

“I need to stamp my authority on the fight straight away and get into it quickly, which is what I haven’t been doing recently.

“I’ll come out and get a feel for what fight it’s going to be and then look to implement my game plan.

"I’m fighting higher level girls now, and my next opponent might not have the greatest record, but she is tough.”

Blaenavon lightweight Mason Jones (7-0) headlines the Cardiff show when he puts his unbeaten record on the line against Finland’s Aleksi Mäntykivi (13-5).

Cwmbran featherweight Jordan Peake faces Belgian Robyn Fischetti, while Blaenavon’s Josh Reed, who like Jones and Peake train at Tillery Combat under Richard Shore, is also set to feature.