Despite losing to Itsuki Hirata at ONE: WARRIOR'S CODE earlier this month, Nyrene Crowley is back in the gym and focusing on building herself as a complete martial artist.

The New Zealand MMA fighter, who is now based in Bali, made her home country proud when she stepped into the cage at a moments notice.

"I was out at dinner and when I got the news my mouth dropped to the floor," the Neutron Bomb says in an interview with Fight News.

"I was immediately speechless and had to ask if it was really happening. I started to get butterflies and then the excitement set in. I didn't care if it was two weeks or two days, I was ready to take any opportunity to fight for ONE. It was everything I had been working towards since I left NZ. This very opportunity."

Crowley says she didn't really have time, obviously, to plan much of a camp, but she had been training consistently since her last bout in December, so I was mentally there for the February 7 match.

"Just really trusting the experience and knowledge of my coaches to devise the game plan and trying my best to implement it with the time I have left."

Before stepping into the ring, Crowley says she was calm and ready.

She had been meditating and visualising the moment as best as she could leading up to the fight.

"It's all you can do, you know. I was repeatedly going over everything I had been drilling, but mostly just trying to enjoy the moment.

"This was something I had been working towards for two years, so I really just wanted to take it all in, stay composed and represent my nations well."

Right after the fight, Crowley says she was quite disappointed.

"My brother had flown all the way from New Zealand and I really felt like I had let my family, my coaches and most of all myself down.

"That is the part of fighting no one sees. That is the moment where it all goes dead silent, and no one really knows what to say in that back room."

Photo: Nyrene "Neutron Bomb" Crowley Facebook.

The day after the fight, Crowley got told that the CEO of ONE Championship had mentioned her as one of the standout athletes on the card.

"That's when the whole experience turned around for me. It is all you can hope for when I was so sure I had ruined my one shot at the moment that would mould my career. To be recognised by someone like him was explosive. 

"Regardless of the outcome, I am positive about my way forward from here. It is so easy to stay entrapped in the depression that follows a loss, but as martial artists we pick ourselves up and use the opportunity as one to learn and grow from constructively. It's all we got," says Crowley.

"I am back in the gym and focusing on building myself as a complete martial artist. I am staying ready and focused and more determined than ever to keep fighting and showing the world what I got. 

"There is no plan B for me. I will fight until I cant fight anymore. It has been a pretty exhausting and challenging journey; particularly in the last year, but I am driven more than ever to achieve the goals I set for myself. So the journey continues."