I've been fighting for nine years and in the beginning there was a lot of backlash and non-supporters of women fighters. We could never find many women fighters and when we did sometimes we were put on the card for the wrong reasons. It was frustrating. When I'd go train in gyms, it seemed like the guys at the gym were skeptical and didn't think I was as serious as they were because I was a woman, but today things are different.
I fought tall fighters, short fighters, strong fighters, slow fighters, sluggers and boxers. It was either learn or get knocked off.
Bellator is open to a fighters union - fighters binding together to see what's in our best interest. That's something you can't even breathe about elsewhere. I think it's a good thing for myself and other fighters to have that.
The standard is the same. Don't get me wrong, the main difference is the number of sparring partners. Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn are the best coaches in the world in my opinion and in many other people's opinion but it really it comes down to the number of sparring partners. I go to my gym and I have 10 fighters fighting on the local level but when you go over there it's like 30 fighters all fighting in the UFC or other bigger shows. That's really the main thing; the numbers.
Trust me, I've seen a lot of fighters come in hot and they disappear faster than they came in after a loss or two. This is the UFC and the best fighters in the world are here. If you fight the great fighters you're bound to lose.
If promoters figure out a way to keep the fighters happy then those fighters will tell other fighters and that promotion will win.
If I look at the fighters that are coming through, fighters like Carl Froch for instance, do I worry about fighters like that? Course not, I could eat them for breakfast.
I'm very open to fight Valentina Shevchenko. I always want to fight the best fighters and I think that she is one of the top female fighters in the world.
Some of the old refs have favoritism toward some of the fighters that are currently fighting. There should be a changing of the guard with the refs, the same way there are with fighters.
Some of the old refs have favoritism toward some of the fighters that are currently fighting. There should be a changing of the guard with the refs, the same way there are with fighters
I don't necessarily think fighters should fight killers every time, but at some point in time, fighters should be fighting the best in their division, period.
I'm going to be one of the best fighters coming out of Philadelphia and one of the best Latino fighters who's ever done it.
Anderson Silva, Georges Saint-Pierre, and Rodrigo Nogueira are some of the top fighters in the UFC among many other great fighters. The UFC has many of the toughest fighters around.
Some fighters know when to stop on their own and go on to something else, and then some fighters have nothing to go back to after they are finished. Some fighters still have the burning fire and feel that they just need to try one more time. Few can do it.
I hope I set an example to motivate people, to motivate the new fighters, motivate the guy who doesn't got to the gym who doesn't train martial arts because he has a knee injury or some little things.
Young fighters dream of the future. Old fighters seek to recapture the past.