TUF 26 blog ep 8 – Emily vs Christina, coaches’ challenge

8/5/17

Today is Saturday. Yesterday in the morning, I was still sore, and was so happy when Justin said it was a day for privates. I hit mitts with Luke for about 15 or 20 minutes in the ring, out of view from Emily, who was on the bike which is pointed towards the cage. Luke held foam bats to warm up. It was my first time hitting those. I liked the combos he had me throw.

Then, I did jiujitsu with Justin. Haha He let me get him in a full rear naked choke but his neck was so thick that I couldn’t choke him. He just flexed his neck muscles. I used all of the strength in my entire body and I couldn’t tap him! Captain does that to me! LOL It was funny.

This episode shows a lot of the history of Christina and Emily. I remember Emily said that she will be champion because she doesn’t have other things to distract her, like a family or kids etc. I agree in part with that, that if you are single and focused only on training, you aren’t distracted by other things or responsibilities.

Ask me how I know this. 🙂

It really sounds like she overcame a lot to make it this far in her MMA career! She’s 2-1 as a pro, but Dana said she had 10 amateur fights, which don’t seem to be all on Sherdog. Ask me how I know this. (I researched her and Christina and a few others just before the staff took my phone before I went into the house. I saw how scrappy, quick, and dangerous on the ground she was!)
I actually watched this fight online in the hotel room…

Emily’s like, “Hi, I’m gonna smash your face now.”

I also saw Christina, who seemed to have a lot of power, but lead with her kicks a lot. I was watching this fight with great interest since I would have to fight the winner. I thought that if the fight was drawn out and Emily was hit in the rib, Christina might win, but if Emily got her down, she might win. I didn’t want to fight Emily because 1) she was on my team, and 2) I would feel bad and conflicted knowing she was injured. But I also didn’t want her to LOSE, which would have to happen if I were to fight Christina.

Soooo I just tried to not care about anything except my own condition.

Emily did the smart thing and used the techniques she does best to take Christine down and submit her. I was super impressed! I was so happy for her that she overcame her injury and won. I immediately felt better about fighting her, but thought, “Crap,” at the same time. Mentally I could see how dangerous she was, so I knew I wouldn’t hold back when we had to fight. I always feel bad for someone in a short fight, because they didn’t get to show all they were capable of doing, like Christina this time.

Oh well, such is the fight game.

The coaches challenge wasn’t that interesting. I hate to offend anyone in charge of putting it together, but I was hoping for something unusual or weird, like dropping watermelons out of a helicopter onto a target, or jousting above pools of water…..

My shoulders and neck get sore after swimming for a while, and Justin wasn’t a swimmer. I thought Eddie might swim a bit. So we pretty much watched our coaches suffer for a while, and I was cutting weight so everyone around me was eating. I just felt bad for them both.

About Lauren changing teams….I’m glad she did. I can see both sides, how Eddie would be offended, but how Lauren is trying to do what’s best for her. She really made a big effort to talk to the girls on both teams and make sure it was ‘okay’ with them. She tried hard to be polite to Eddie, too. I mean, it’s natural that he gets upset, so I think that was unavoidable, and took guts on Lauren’s part.

Well, you gotta have guts if you’re a fighter. We were happy to have Lauren train with us. I like her. I know she was trying to keep her weight low just in case she had to step in due to an injury or weight-miss. Hey, every woman for herself in The House.

Read Lauren’s blog for her recounting of the situation: http://laurenmurphymma.com/tuf-26-episode-8/

I’m so excited that my second fight will finally be shown next Wednesday. Tune in!…

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