Issue 190

May 2020

The multi-garlanded boxer is making her way into MMA and is determined to do it on her terms.

What were your expectations heading into your first fight in Mixed Martial Arts?

For my first fight my expectation was just to win. In general, my expectation is just to learn all of these new things, learn all of these new tools and go into something I have never done before. I want to have a good time, have fun and do my best and succeed.

Heather Hardy, Ana Julaton and others have made the transition to Bellator MMA from the world of boxing. Have you studied any of their fights or spoken to them about what to expect in such a transition?

Not at all. I don’t feel like I need to. There are not me and I am not them. My career in boxing is way more decorated than both of theirs. So, I feel going into MMA, nobody is going to tell me anything about what to do other than the people I have in my corner and the people in the gym that are helping me.

I am already an athlete. I am already a boxer. I am already a multi-time world champion. Now it’s just about building up a nice set of tools, like wrestling, and takedown defense and other defenses that I get to practice on my own with the people who actually know what they are doing.

You are a multi-time champion, even a diamond champion as a professional boxer. For those that aren’t familiar with your boxing career, what fight would you have MMA fans watch to get an idea about what you are all about?

It would probably be my fight against Mariana Juarez. She was the biggest, most decorated, legendary Mexican fighter of the time. She was in Playboy. She was their golden ticket to everything.

I went over there to her hometown in Mexico City and beat the altitude, beat the smog and beat this woman for her WBC, IBF and WBC Diamond belt. I feel like it was an accomplishment that I already knew I was going to do but everybody else just put it past me. Not only that, I took the fight with not even half as many fights as she had.

You have said that you aren’t a huge fan of fighting in Mexico for a number of reasons. What is it about Mexico that you don’t like?

The thing about Mexico is that I love the fans. They love me. They treated me like a real athlete, which is hard to do with boxing in America. It was just the fact that I am an American. I was going over there and every time I walked out they played Born in the U.S.A. and I got booed. It’s part of the game. It’s just being a woman who will beat all the odds.

There have been a few women who have done both (boxing and MMA) I just want to be different. I just want to go in there and be me. There is really no one else who can do it like me. Everyone has their own path. Heather had her own way to do it. Ana had her way. Holly (Holm) had her own way and I am going to do it my way.

Do you find inspiration in any MMA fighters, men or women that lit the fire and sparked your transition to the new sport?

There is nobody I ever looked up to or thought that I could do it because of them. When I started watching MMA the one thing that I always liked was Joanna Jedrzejczyk. With me being half Polish that helped that out, too. Her sprawl was good. Her takedown defense was amazing. Knowing she came from a standup background was cool. Everything she had was sound and it worked. For me it’s finding a balance. It’s about taking a punch and being able to keep that game plan in place.

You are going from being a world champion to square one in a new sport. Will that test your champion spirit and mettle?

It’s not a test of whether or not I will be good in MMA, it’s more of a challenge for me to see how I am as a person and how far I am willing to push myself. I love boxing. I will probably never quit. I love it to death. All I can do is win more belts, though. When it comes to MMA, I am starting out with a clean slate. It is really exciting to start fresh.

Even walking in to the gym, I have no ego. It’s not like ‘Hey, I’m this boxing champion. You can’t tell me anything.’ I don’t know anything. Teach me. Even striking for MMA is clearly different. I can’t bob and weave like I did in boxing. Everything is so new. I have no ego. I am very humble to the fact that every time I leave an MMA gym every piece of my body hurts. 

This must be refreshing on so many levels for you, right?

That’s exactly what it is. The only thing for me in boxing is to make money. I don’t really even see that happening. Maybe two out of thousands of women are really making money. It’s sad that they don’t give women more opportunity to promote themselves. We don’t even get the time of day. In MMA, it’s the opposite.

Women in MMA have a platform to display their talents and be beautiful and powerful at the same time. MMA shows women off. People love it. Fans love it. I feel like that’s why MMA is doing great. Bellator is doing a really good job with it. They have some great champions. It’s good to be a part of that.