Blog about my Fusion Fight League Fight!
I had an amazing weekend.
Serena, John, and I left on Wednesday evening, changed planes in Salt Lake city, and arrived in Billings, Montana around midnight. The promoter kindly met us at the airport and a shuttle took us to the hotel. It was nice – Big Horn Resort! There was a water park and pool but we never got to use it because it opened at 4 PM and we were always busy at night.
Tuesday, we ran into a fellow fighter named Jessica “Black Widow” Borga. She offered to drive us to walmart to get supplies, since she rented a car and we didn’t. We made friends. 😀
We started our first stage of weight cut Thursday might, which was not eating dinner or drinking, dressing in a sauna suit, jumping rope, and hitting mitts with John.
We lost about 4 pounds of water that way, then Friday we both woke up about 5 pounds over. I didn’t feel too bad! We sweat out the rest of the weight in a hot tub. Serena went to the public one downstairs but I wanted quiet privacy and osmosis with salt, so I used the hotel room bath tub like I’ve always done (since returning to America). Captain and John Switched off. Captain arrived Friday night, super late, due to a flight delay. Poor guy.
We both cut weight and Jessica and Marq P. drove us to early weigh-ins at the venue! We both made weight.
My opponent didn’t make weight. I was staring at her using the blanket to weigh in and then the staff lady told me she was 128….all I could think about was, dang, she’s so short! My reach advantage will be amazing! I didn’t even care she missed weight. My opponent’s translator told me she claimed it was her time of the month and she didn’t feel well.
Well dang, girl, that sucks. But we all go through that and that’s why you plan ahead…. mine was supposed to be this week, too, actually, but my hormones got all screwed up from extreme exertion and dieting and other females with dominant hormones around…so it came early…. too much information? lol 😀
I know some women have debilitating cramps and stuff so I feel bad for them….but it’s not my problem. Pop those pain pills and carry on. My friend was like, “You should kick her in the uterus!” LOL Empathizing too much is a weakness of mine, so I worked hard at shutting off my emotions and entering into my Jedi state. She wants to fight, so let’s fight. I’m glad she took the fight with me! They had a hard finding me an opponent, so I’m grateful to her. I got $50 for every pound she missed, which turned out to be way less than 20% of her purse, which kinda sucked. It was in my contract but I didn’t really think about it when I read it.
We went to a Ribs place and ate a lot. 😀 Rob, Sheryl, Candy, and Katie joined us! so did Jessica and her coach. Fun times!
Then we went back, I got my hair done by the wonderful ladies of Beauty Mark salon! They sponsored the event and have great people, so if you are in Billings, please go!
Rob drove us to Hudson’s bar for the mock weigh in! I looked less defined since I re-hydrated and ate a lot, but whatever.
Thanks for the socks, Marq!!
omg look at the size of Serena’s freaking BICEP!! O_O;;;
Then we ate at Applebees joined by Bonny and family, Serena got HER hair done, and we went to bed.
Saturday, fight day, we woke up, ate, and went to the ZooMontana. Hah I did a 360. “I absolutely do not want to go to a zoo. Okay I really want to go to the zoo. let’s hurry up and leave now.”
haha If I were an animal in a Zoo, I’d want to live there. It was basically just fields and scattered trees with fences around it where the animals lived. Very natural. No hard concrete floors like some inner city zoos. The bears were playing either each other. The tigers were strolling around and didn’t look unhappy. There wasn’t a huge variety, but I enjoyed our nature walk and it distracted me from being nervous before my fight.
Ate subway sandwiches.
Took a nap from 2 PM to 3 PM, then got revved up to fight, and went to the venue at 5.
We found our locker room and waited. We were joined by Jessica Borga and Dayna Kelly. I loved sharing a room with those ladies.
Amateur fights tend to be shorter than pro fights, so I felt like I didn’t have to wait a really long time, but I still fought around 10 PM. Serena was two fights before me. I was mentally prepared but had to work hard a shutting off my emotions. She’s my best friend so I always get so nervous before her fight and care so much. But I knew she was in capable hands with John, and Captain was there to support, too. I watched a little from the side, between my trying to warm up and pacing. She did SO well! Her technique has come a long way from even her previous fight. I could see her applying movement, cage technique, blocking, etc. The first few rounds she dominated. Then the other girl started rallying and blitzing more in the final rounds. I still thought Serena won but the other girl won the decision. Gah!
I worked so hard to shut off my emotions and just focus on myself. ;_; Then Jessica lost a tough fight…I was sad! Fighting is hard, man! I feel for my friends.
No emotions, no emotions. Peace. Serenity. Like a Jedi.
Alright. My fight time. I felt great. Warmed up. No injuries. I’ve never felt more healthy. Thank you massage therapist Teri “Helping Hands,” and Luke for the shoulder exercises I still do that have strengthened me. Thank you Lorenzo for the conditioning training.
I walked out to the theme song for the anime Fairy Tail and it was cool.
I expected her to come charging forward throwing wild hooks. She didn’t really. As expected, my range was so much longer. I was able to land jabs, and then pull out when she tried to counter with hooks. I landed a lot more than I thought I would. And then suddenly she threw a hard jab and it snapped my head back. lol In all her other fights, I never really saw her throw a straight punch so it caught me by surprise. I almost laughed. John told me he almost laughed, too. I heard him call out “head movement” and I was like, oh yeah, that’s right. lol We exchanged a lot. She did land a hard hook on my right side and it rocked me for a second, but I pretended it didn’t. She tried to bully me into the cage but I reversed it.
You can’t hold a Syndicate fighter on the cage. 🙂
I ended up taking her down and landed elbows and grounding and pounding from inside her guard.
She trapped my hands and I knew I was in danger for an armbar so I tried to keep my elbows in. But she didn’t throw one up or attack one, so after a while (time seems so much faster in a fight, for me it was a ‘while’ but probably was like 3 seconds) I just kept grounding and pounding. Then she threw up her leg for an armbar. I immediately stacked her to defend and tried to immobilize her hip movement.
I heard John yell “Twelve seconds!” so I thought, “Alright, I’ll just ride it out here rather than risk getting unbalanced trying to escape.” Then I heard some commotion and the overhead announcer comes on and says, “This is a pro round with 5 minutes…” and I hear John holler, “NINETY SECONDS!” wait, what? lol which one? Then he yelled, “Two minutes!”
CRAP, That means I need to start getting out of this arm bar! The set up was pretty good and she really had my arm tightly, but I stacked hard and managed to defend it.
John later told me that he started screaming at the ref that they forgot to reset the clock from all the other ammy matches, which were 3 mins, to me, the only pro, who goes for 5 minutes. HAHA.
I got mount.
Then she rolled over. I got her back? I forget which round this happened in now. Thanks for the great pics, Katie.
In my mind, I heard Capitao’s voice say, “When I take the back IT’S ALL OVER!” I want that to be said about me.
She was tying up my hands and I couldn’t quite get under her chin. I almost got the choke a few times but she managed to hand fight, and I didn’t wanna burn out my arms cranking on something that wasn’t there. So we rolled over and I started hitting her head with punches and elbows.
Of course I was aiming for the sides but she kept turning her head and I landed one on the back of her head. CRAP that’s illegal because it’s dangerous.
Ref: “Watch the back of the head!”
yeah I know. Okay, crap crap, punch the sides, okay elbow CRAP SHE TURNED HER HEAD AGAIN. god damnit!
The ref stopped the fight and stood us up. I was like, “SORRY SORRY SORRY!” to both of them. Usually the ref scolds the offending fighter, but he just said to me, “Yeah ok go stand over there…” and gave her a minute to recover. 🙁
Remember, Roxy, every time you step into the cage or onto a mat, you leave your emotions outside. No anger, no sorry, no revenge, no feeling. Don’t feel guilty, don’t feel bad, don’t feel anything. It was an accident.
John’s voice in my memory: She wants to be here. There’s nobody holding a gun to her head saying ‘you have to fight!’
I managed to keep the voice in my mind silent and resumed as if nothing had happened.
I forget how the round ended. I forget if this was the first or second round. Anyway, in the second round I managed to take her down with a cool trip John taught me a while back off the cage. Got side control. I heard everything my cornermen were saying. This was funny..
John: get mount!
Capitao: Go for the arm bar!
John: Get mount!
Capitao: Go for the arm bar!
John: Mount!
Capitao: Arm bar!
Roxy: **Which one?!? **
lol I always default to John, so got mount and did gnp, but ironically, Captain had JUST drilled with me last week on how to pinch my knees and pin her on her side and gnp if she tries to turn over, and that’s exactly what happened. Then…
Captain: 30 seconds, Roxy, arm bar!
Have confidence in your jiujitsu. Capitao gave you a brown belt for a reason.
I went for the arm bar. I got the position! She locked her arms! I started working to break her grip!
Captain: Put your foot over her arms.
Oh yeah, that attack! I did it! Her arm popped out. omg. I grabbed her wrist and started cranking it. She didn’t tap. Slowly pull harder. She didn’t tap. Her arm was all the way extended. There was like ten seconds left. damnit tap damnit . Slowly hips up. I put my muscle into it. I saw her rather than felt her tap and then ref stopped it.
YES. JIU-JITSU!!!! I won with jiu-jitsu! HELL YESSSsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.
I was so happy to finish with a submission. I’ve been doing so much jiujitsu lately, too.
And I won the 125 lb flyweight belt! The actual fight meant more to me than the belt, but I can’t lie and say I wasn’t excited to get a belt. 😀
My smile looks forced here because I’m trying not to cry from happiness.
It’s a victory for me and also my coaches. They must be happy to see their student progress and succeed because of their teaching.
Hey, I’ll put in the effort but it goes to waste if not directed in the right ways, and John and Captain are the best coaches I’ve ever met in my LIFE. I’m so happy they both were able to come corner me. That’s not always the case if there are other fighters with fights at the same time. And they’re taking time away from teaching, away from their wives and kids to support me in my dream. Thank you, my heroes!
I allowed myself to feel again after that. So thrilled about my fight. So sad Serena didn’t get the W but so proud of her for her improvements.
I hope she can recognize and be glad about them because I’m impressed. She will always be my favorite training partner. She’s as motivated at me. We have the same fire and drive to get better and win.
After the fight, we had to go to the Hudson’s for me to get paid, and then we went out to eat with my team and friends. <3
I'm so glad Katie is down with helping me eat my dessert as an appetizer.
FREAKING ICE CREAM NACHOS.
It was so cool that I fought in the hometown of my friend Bonny! I got to meet her family! I met her online because she sent me fanmail and we made friends. I love that. Best thing ever. Friends are my hearts desire. 🙂
I think I only slept an hour.
It made me really happy to get feedback from my coaches about the stuff I’ve improved. I’ve been working doggedly for those very things I just succeeded at.
Terril and Ryan from Fusion Fight League treated me very well and I’d love to fight for them again. Thanks to my fans and friends who came or bought the PPV, which is what makes the event possible!
My sponsors REALLY helped me out financially for this fight. Thank you!
Remove it Restoration, Cryohelmet, Aardvark Painting, Jenkins jiujitsu, Smoking Gnu, My Consumer I.T. and THE TWENTY EIGHT who bought me autographs or donated!
My elbow is swollen for obvious reasons and my ear is cut and swelling from her hook (she hits HARD) but that’s it and it’ll heal fast. I can’t wait to get back to training! 😀 …