My experience at Invicta 8

What a fantastic experience.
I won my fight against Tara LaRosa, which is the third time I fought her. A trilogy – on second thought, “Return of the Jedi.” I’m a huge Star Wars fan, and it’s funny because I was SO close to doing some anime theme for my weigh-in, but decided on Star Wars at the last minute. It’s fitting, because my coach is a Star Wars maniac, and teammate Amanda, who is George Lucas’ daughter, is part-owner of my gym. 😀 So I bought a Jedi robe and light saber from a costume store for $70, thinking, “For this price I better use this A LOT.” LOL Totally worth it.
julie and tara and roxy faceoff
Coach John Wood and I left on Wednesday. Thank you, John, for taking time out of your ridiculously busy schedule and training other teammates to come with me. We arrived and I did this “face-off” interview with Tara. I wore my Jedi robe. XD

Thursday John and I went for walks around malls, played video games at a giant arcade, and tried to be careful of my weight.
gaming with john

Also did photo shoots and video interviews!
I didn’t even mean for this Jedi thing to blow up, but it really has. lol
return of the roxy jedi

At the risk of sounding vain, how freaking awesome do we look here? XD
roxy jedi and john

roxy in kansas city

I got to hang out with my former teammates from the AACC! Tama-chan (Yasuko Tamada, who fought for the title) and Megumi Fuji, and Abe-sensei!
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Invicta needed a female voice to speak for Tamada-san, so I did the translation (my manager Shu supplied me with a few words) and did the voice! 😀 so exciting and an honor!

In the evening, John and I watched The Empire Strikes Back on his laptop after working out with pads. XD #jedi

Friday I tried not to eat and drink and cut weight in the bathtub via hot salt bath. That went super smoothly. Go me. For the weigh-ins, I pulled out my light saber on Tara. XD I’m glad I didn’t fall off the stage, because my plan was to square off, and then when she held her fist to my chin, I’d step back and SWOOSH! Extend the light saber. But Shannon had us start with me already near the edge of the stage. But I managed! I love the look on Shannon’s face, and John is cracking up in the background. hahaha lots of our friends think John forced me to do it, but nope, the Jedi thing was my idea. Shayna helped me decide the pose. XD

weigh ins pull light saber
roxy and steve before fight

My good friend/ big brother Steve, my teammate from Japan, lives in Kansas and made the long drive to come visit me TWICE – once after weigh ins, and once for my fight! Thank you!! <3 So amazing to see you again! and thanks for the T-shirt and socks! 😀 😀 😀 😀 On Fight Day, we ate breakfast, missed my hair appointment because the breakfast place nearby was closed so we had to go searching for one, and then I didn't realize it would take so long! ;_; Thank GOODNESS the nice lady came back and did my hair, but I spent literally all morning and afternoon trying to calm the panic inside me. John was saying, "From here until the fight, no matter what thoughts pop into your head, only positive ones go out. Only positive outcomes happen." Despite me being naturally positive, even the happy warrior needs to be reminded to be positive, and John is a very calming presence. We watched "Return of the Jedi" on his computer. lol Then Tara and I fought and it was glorious. 33roxy and tara invicta 4

33roxy game face invicta

33roxy jab tara 2

33tara punching roxy2
Funny, when I got into the cage, it seemed so natural…all my nervousness vanished. My mind went strangely silent. It was just me, John, and Tara in there. and in my head was the long list of techniques ready to fire off.

She kept smiling, which actually backfired against her because it relaxed me. I heard she got a lot of flac from dancing. well hey, at the end of the day, why the hell are we doing this? To enjoy our lives. So give her a break already! Just enjoy the show and don’t judge. 🙂 and I liked her music and it relaxed me to dance, too! hah

roxy dancing at invicta
John was like, “Okay stop dancing! get serious!” lol

I couldn’t be more proud of my performance. It means a lot for me to be praised by my coach, too. That’s all I really wanted from this fight, almost as much as a win. Just.Do.The.Techniques. Prove that I can do it. And I did. Thanks for giving me a chance, Invicta, on the main card no less, despite my less than stellar losing streak.

shu roxy john after win
My manager Shu at suckerpunch entertainment management has always stood by me! ( left) Thanks for helping in my corner. and of course, Coach John. #coachoftheyearawardcandidate

33roxy hugging john invicta2
Also a big thank you to my friends who came out, and my sponsors. It was cool to see my TUF 18 buddies again! Sharkbait, Raquel, Shayna, Jessamyn, Peggy!
This picture also has Tynan, a new friend who visited Syndicate for a lesson once.
roxy jessamyn tynan shayna

friends group after invicta