Issue 008
October 2005
Arguably the top Female Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter in the UK, Rosi Sexton makes her return to the UK MMA scene after a sabbatical of more than a year. She faces a tough test in the up-and-coming Sabrina Cohen on September 17 at Cagewarriors: Quest in Sheffield, where Sexton defends her title of Under-60kg Female Champion.
FO: You’re fighting in a little over two weeks but you’ve been out of action for some time. How are preparations going?
RS: Good! I’m training hard at the moment, its really just sharpening up a few rough edges, getting the timing back. The basics are all still there, they actually come back pretty quickly.
FO: How much do you know about your opponent Sabrina Cohen?
RS: Not a great deal; I’ve heard a few things about her. From what I’ve heard and what I’ve read on the Internet, she’s supposed to be good. I know she won her last fight in about a minute. Potentially everyone’s a dangerous opponent, you don’t take anyone lightly.
FO: You’re undefeated at 5-0, but you haven’t fought since 2004. Does this still make you the number one female fighter in the UK?
RS: It’s really a matter of opinion who’s ‘best’. It depends what your criteria are. I’m the Cagewarriors under-60kg titleholder and I’ve beaten pretty much all the other top female fighters in the country at one time or another. As to whether I would beat them now — that’s pure speculation. I am confident the potential is there and I have a great team behind me, so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
FO: You’re currently being filmed for a documentary. Tell me about this.
RS: They’ve been following me since midway through my pregnancy, having the baby, getting back into fighting. They’re focusing on the different roles in my life, the whole journey. [The TV show has a working title of ‘Rosi and The Female Fight Club’ and is currently scheduled to appear on October 5 on ITV.
FO: You’ve had plenty of exposure in the media already- newspapers, radio, TV. How is the newfound fame treating you?
RS: (Laughs) I’m naturally quite a shy person. I’m ambivalent about it all. On the one hand, I think its good for the sport to get that kind of exposure, the one thing we need is to encourage more women into the sport, so its great. On a personal level, I’m getting used to it! (Laughs)
FO: Being CageWarriors champion, and with your undefeated status, do you get many offers of fights?
RS: There’s a few coming through at the moment. Before I was pregnant I was finding it quite hard to find fights. It got to the stage where things in this country petered out a bit and we started to look overseas. It was hard to get into the scene in the US or Japan, but it seemed that while I was pregnant a few new faces appeared and a few people started talking about rematches. The way things are going, I think it could be an exciting time.
FO: Is there anyone you’d particularly like to fight?
RS: I’d really like to get over to the States. There are a lot of active women over there and I’ve been itching to get over there for some time. At the moment they’re not really looking to bring that many people over, which is a shame. Hopefully in the near future that’ll change.
FO: How frustrating has the lack of suitable opponents been until now?
RS: It does get pretty frustrating. The most frustrating thing is when you’ve got a fight lined up and someone pulls out and you can’t find a replacement because there just isn’t anyone available. I’ve been in the game a while now, but there have been some quite long gaps between the fights. I’d like to fight more often, its not really been possible.
FO: You mentioned rematches earlier; I hear Carla O’Sullivan’s camp has been talking about a rematch?
RS: I’m quite happy to fight anyone. I’ll fight whoever they put in front of me, but it’s not my choice. You’ll have to talk to my manager! (Laughs)
FO: You’ve recently taken some time out to start a family, what kind of impact has this had on your career?
RS: I think the scene has been a bit dead in the last year; there’s not been that much activity on the female scene. I think this is a good time to be getting back into it. In a lot of ways I’m coming back refreshed. I appreciate being able to fight a lot more than before, and I think that’s made a difference to my training and my attitude towards competing. I’m definitely stronger mentally. Now I’m getting back into it, I think I’ll be better than ever before.
FO: What about the physical effects of having a baby? Will you stay at the same fighting weight?
RS: Yeah, I’ll get back to that fighting weight no problem; I was fighting at under-60kg before, which was actually a bit heavy for me — I was walking around under that. If I was fighting in the US, I’d probably drop to 125lbs [56.8kg].
FO: What are your plans for the future?
RS: You probably know more than I do! (Laughs) I don’t get told anything! I concentrate on one fight at a time. There have been some European names mentioned: the French girl Tevi Say, her name has been mentioned but I don’t know when that fight would take place. We’ll see what comes my way, but whatever happens it will be great to get back out there and fight again.
