With her first loss out of the way, Kailin Curran looks to slug it out on Saturday

A fighter's first loss is never easy to handle and for Kailin Curran it was no different. The 24-year-old went into her UFC debut bout against Paige VanZant in November undefeated in her young MMA career.

She exited it with a Fight of the Night performance bonus but also a defeat via third-round TKO after an incredible fight. "At first, I took it hard," she recently told the UFC's Thomas Gerbasi.

"It was my first loss and I couldn't believe it. I was in shock, especially because I didn't think I would lose to her the way I did. We had a back and forth fight and I wish that I could have gone all the way. I'd rather have lost by decision than by a stoppage. That was prety disappointing, but we did get the Fight of the Night bonus, and that did kind of put it in perspective that I did fight my heart out."

Not even some extra cash could help Curran get over the loss, however. Time and again she found success against VanZant, only to have the tide turned against her.

When she got back home to California, Curran put the fight tape on constant repeat and analyzed her mistakes. "After that fight I got to go home and let myself relax and think about the fight, and I just couldn't get over it," she recounted.

"I would just watch the fight over and over and see where I went wrong and what happened."

In the end, only getting back in the gym and back to work for her fight this Saturday against Alex Chambers in Australia helped Curran get out of her funk.

"You can't feel sorry for yourself because if you start doing that, that kind of attitude doesn't get you anywhere," she said.

"I was still moping around (laughs), but I got back into it and realized that it happens in this sport all the time. As long as I gave it everything, and I knew I did, I was OK."

Of course, she plans on leaving it all in the cage once more on Saturday against Chambers. The young scrapper also says she wouldn't mind more of a slug-fest in her second UFC fight.

"That's how I fight all the time," she said.

"I'm an exciting fighter. And hopefully this is more of a stand-up fight. In that first fight, [VanZant] put me up against the cage and just hugged me a lot of the time, so I hope that Alex engages when standing and wants to trade punches. That would be awesome."