How old are you?
I am twenty seven years old.

How long have you officially been a Mixed Martial Arts fighter?
I think my first fight was May this year. I did four fights in a pretty short time frame. I actually did 6 fights 2 weeks apart.

How do you describe your fighting style?
I’m definitely more of a striker. I am a pretty aggressive striker. I definitely throw the kicks with the Taekwondo background. I throw some crazy kicks, which I think is fun and also effective. I will wrestle down to the ground. I did for a little bit, so I do some wrestling as well. I definitely try to balance things out, but I am more of a striker for sure at this point.

Where are you from originally?
Originally from Syracuse, but out in the Bay Area since 2000

You came out from Syracuse to go to school at Cal correct?
True.

What was your major at Cal?
I majored in fighting! No, just kidding. I majored in Physics, and Astrophysics.

So how does a girl come from Up State New York, go to Cal, a very prestigious school, and then become a Mixed Martial Arts Fighter?
Umm, There were some stepping stones in between. While out at Cal, I met some people from the Taekwondo team who convinced me to come and try it, and I loved. I did it for a few years there, and things kind of went on from there.

Now you told me a story about watching some Pride Fights?
Yeah, I had been Taekwondo for about 5-6 years at that point, and I had a friend take me out to a little get together to watch a Pride event, which at the time I didn’t even know what it was, and had never even seen MMA before. I watched it, and thought it was awesome. I was amazed at what these guys were doing, and how much there was to MMA. I realized how much of the game there was that I had no clue about, so right there I started training in Jiu-Jitsu, wrestling and boxing, because I wanted to compete in MMA.

Do you come from an Athletic background? Were your parents Athletic? Were you Athletic as a kid?
Yeah, I did sports my whole life, and both my parents were Athletic. I’m the first fighter in the family, but yeah my family is pretty athletic in general

What were your family’s thoughts when they found out that their daughter who headed out west is now throwing kicks and fighting people in a gym?
At first they were supportive but cautious, like “I don’t really know what this is, or what you are getting in to, but if you’re going to do it, ok”, and then both my parents actually flew out to Vegas to watch my first fight, which I won pretty quickly, and pretty easily, and they were just kind of hooked on it after that. They both follow everything, My Dad’s always like “I saw your name in this article, when are you fighting next?”, and my Mom is watching MMA now, she just watched the Strikeforce fights on CBS, so they’re both pretty into it now, it’s cute.

Do people kind of wrinkle their nose, or look at you differently when they find out that you are a MMA fighter?
No! If anything people are kind of impressed or intrigued by it. I don’t really get the wrinkle your nose, what’s wrong with you reaction. I generally get a very positive reaction from people overall.

What was your first MMA fight experience like? What were you thinking right before the fight?
I don’t know why, but I don’t really get too nervous before fights. I was in Vegas at the Orleans Casino and sitting in the arena dressing room. I distinctly remember them wrapping my hands and putting the gloves on me. I remember thinking that these things are tiny, and how was I supposed to fight with them? Then I remember thinking, this is awesome, I get to hit someone with these tiny gloves on! I was just stoked. It was cool I just walked out and I felt good, I felt ready, and the fight went really well, or at least it went well for me (laughs)

How many amateur fights did you have on the books? I see 4-0, is that all you’ve had in amateur fights, or have you competed in Muay Thai tournaments as well in addition to that?
I’ve done a couple Muay Thai tournaments, like The Smokers, and tons of Taekwondo fights, but as far as MMA goes, just the four.

How do you know when it’s time to make that jump from Amateur to Professional? How do you know when you’re ready?
There’s no official sanctions around it, like you need a certain amount of amateur fights before you can go professional, it’s up to the fighter and coaches. A few years ago, there weren’t ever any amateur fights, you had to go straight to Pro, and fight someone who may have already had ten fights, which was pretty common. I feel like I’ve gotten some good experience training with some people who are at the Pro level, so I think it’s time.

When are you planning on turning pro? Is that somewhere in the near future? What lies ahead for you?
It is. I am doing a Pro debut for my next fight. It’s not set yet, but I would like to have one within the next month or so for sure.

You’re going to making your Pro debut shortly, what are some of your short term goals right now? What are you looking to do with this whole fighting thing right now?
Short term, I would like to get a few Pro fights under my belt, a few Pro wins under my belt. I would like to fight for Strikeforce, which is the place to be right now in the women’s division.

Any idea where it’s going to be at, down in the Bay? Are you looking to travel at all? Do you just kind of have the idea that you do want to fight in a month or two, or do you have anything set up or in the works?
I’m trying to talk to different promotions and see what I can do. It would be nice if I could find someone who cares about female fights, and builds up divisions from there. There are definitely some sketchy, poor quality promotions. It’s my first Pro fight though, so I can’t be too picky about it, you take what you can get.

Have you talked to Strikeforce at all?
Nothing formally. I need to earn my stripes a little more in the Pro world, and then I’ll do that.

If something doesn’t happen right away with Strikeforce, or the opportunity arises, would you go overseas to Japan and go fight?
Yeah, yeah, for sure. That would be an awesome experience. Again, I would like to get a few more fights locally under my belt first, but I would be stoked to fight in Japan. It’s definitely something I would love to do at some point. It’s a huge thing there.

Are you trying to take this is far as you can? Do you want to be up there with the other top women fighters?
Yes, but not because I want the name, it’s more just because I want to fight the best and show people I can hang with them and beat them. I’ll get up there. It’s really because this is what I love doing, I want to go fight.

Who are some of the fighters that you follow in MMA?
Obviously I love Jake Shields, and am a huge fan. Gil Melendez, I train with him, Nick Diaz, I LOVE watching Nick fight, and think his style is awesome. He kind of picks people a part and makes them look silly, which is usually impressive. Anderson Silva, I love his style, he is so creative in what he does. Definitely outside the box in the way he moves.

How do you train? Are there a lot of female fighters down at Jake Shields gym in Berkeley? Are you one of the only females down there? What is a normal training day for you like?
Umm, there’s a local different girls there that fight professionally. Kat Olendahl and Sarah Boyd both fight out of that gym, so I train with them all the time, and obviously all the guys there as well. I train by usually doing striking work, some wrestling or grappling as well, and maybe some strength and conditioning. It kind of depends on if I’m training for a fight or not. I’ve definitely logged a few hours regardless.

What is it like training? Are you guys all one big family?
Honestly, a lot of the women around here are not doing what we’re doing, so we definitely help each other out, there is a lot of camaraderie there. The other guys in the gym, in my experience, have all been really cool. They see that you are dedicated and are going to work hard, and they’ll help you out. You can always find someone to come help, or train with you. The larger thing as a whole has come leaps and bounds in the past two years. The Carano/Cyborg headlined and also got a huge positive reaction. I was in that crowd, with everyone going crazy, and everyone loving it. There of course are still a lot of people with the view that women shouldn’t be fighting, I don’t care about watching unless they’re hot, things like that. People though are starting to love it, and watch women put on great fights, and we keep getting more positive publicity.

Are you a lifer in this sport?
Well, You can only fight for so long (laughing). I’ll fight as long as I can, and I love it, but I really love teaching. I used to teach Taekwondo at Cal, and that is something I would definitely love to do as well. I don’t know where I’ll be in 10 or 15 years, but this is something that will always be a part of my life for sure.

Are you looking for sponsors, or have you found any for your Pro debut? Do you have to look for them, do they find you? How does that work?
I have a couple people who sponsor me now, who did prior sponsorship with my amateur fights and will continue to sponsor me as I move forward. I have gone out and said “Hey, this is who I am, this is what I’ve done, and do you want to sponsor me?” At some point it will be the other way around, but that’s what it is for now.

You’re a MMA fighter, why is there such a rip between Boxing and MMA?
I think that boxing used to be the big fight sport, and now it’s MMA. It’s what all the younger people are watching and training in. It has taken the dollars and the fans from boxing. There are still fans and money in boxing, but the new up and coming thing is MMA. I think there may be a little bit of a grudge because of that. I’ve never really been in the boxing world, so that would just be my guess.

Does MMA need the Olympics to make them a more legitimate sport?
No, absolutely not. Football is huge, and there is no American Football in the Olympics. People are just now trying to get BJJ in the Olympics, which would kind of be a step in that direction, but no, absolutely not. What qualifies something to be an Olympic sport and what’s going make something popular publicly and with fans, and draws ratings are not the same thing. I don’t necessarily think that’s a valid contention to make for Boxing sticking around, and MMA being a fad.

How important is your walk out music? Think back to your first fight. Can you tell me what song they played, or what you requested at your first fight ever.
At that fight I think they ended up not playing the song I requested. I think I actually requested “Hammerhead” by Offspring, the album had just come out, and I really liked that song. They ended up messing something up, and didn’t even play it. I was still stoked to be walking out, and having everyone there. I think what I mentioned before is that I walked out to Rancid, because I wanted to do a local East Bay group

Before we go, are there any sponsors or anyone else that you would like to thank?
Yeah I would like to thank Cat Fight Gear, they’ve been great, and so I’d like to give them a shout out. And of course I want to thank Jake Shields, and all of his trainers.