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Posted by Mika Frankl
Coming up on April 5, 2013, at the Ameristar Casino & Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri, will play host to Invicta FC 5. Which will be headlined by “The Karate Hottie” Michelle Waterson challenging Jessica Penne for the IFC Atomweight title. While at Jackson’s/Winkeljohns MMA we had the chances to catch up with the challenger.
MF: The upcoming title opportunity you versus Jessica Penne, a dream come true how does it feel?
MW: I’m excited I can’t wait to show everybody what I been training so hard for. I been fighting professionally for six years now and this is the moment we all been waiting for is to fight for that belt.
MF: Fighting on back to back Invicta Event how good does it feel to be staying active?
MW: Feels good. I love Invicta and they threat us fighters real well. I’m honored to be fighting on the card. It’s going to be a stacked card.
MF: Nationally women’s MMA is seeing a boom with many companies popping up with women’s divisions now. How does it feel to be a part of this right now?
MW: Well it’s about time we been putting in work and every body’s been like coach Jackson be passionate, be passionate it’s going to happen and here it is. So, like I said it’s about time we’re pretty entertaining. It’s nice to see that the rest of the world is seeing how we’d like to see things.
MF: Last fight it was a great fight a split decision and you ever went through some adversity in the first round there was the back mount, the attempted rear naked choke; how could that kind of adversity and the way you came back from it help you grow as a fighter?
MW: I think it’s something I needed to be able to do as a fighter. To know that I could loses the first round and that I had two choices, 1 to let that momentum continue and let her win the fight or turn it around. Those were the two choices I had and I decided to take the higher road. I pushed it I knew I lost the first round so I knew I had to win the next two. I just told myself let’s go out there and have fun. There’s no turning back you got ten minutes of the rest of your life.
MF: Also in that fight it looked like you were really concatenating on getting the armbar; was it working out that way or was that the game-plan?
MW: The armbar has always kind of been my bread and butter. But, Lacey was just real good at defending it. So, you know sometimes you just can’t get it. You have to go for other things and from the armbar I was able to use it as a sweep, different things like that. But, it was good; we had a bunch of good scrambles in that fight.
MF: Then next we got the title fight coming up you versus Jessica Penne; she won the belt by submission and has two huge wins in Invicta. Can you share some thoughts on her?
MW: I’m excited to fight her and like I said show the world what I’m made of. It’s my time.
MF: Could you talk about some of the things you’re going to have to do dealing with an opponent that has such great length for the weight class?
MW: She does have such great length but like I said I have a gym full of teammates taller than her and stronger than her that I deal with on a day to day basis, so it nothing new to me. Nothing that she brings to the table will intimidate me at all. I’m ready.
MF: Both of you are very good on the ground and you have the flying armbar and Jessica is coming off a triangle win. How interesting does this fight get when it goes to the ground?
MW: I see a lot of scrambles happening and I don’t know you never know it depends on who’s a step ahead of the other person.
MF: We that you’re coming off of having a child, your baby girl that’s running around the gym and we had heard in the first two fight s coming back it was rough getting away from and wanting to train. This being the third fight, have you found a system that works or is it still just as hard?
MW: It’s always going to be hard as a parent. You just want to be there for every step they take. But, my mom has been helping me out a lot. My husband has been helping out a lot and we bring her to the gym she’s in the gym all the time. She understands that mommy has to fight. We come in and we do work. It doesn’t make a difference and it actually motivates me even more. Because, I want to show her I can be mommy and still go after my dreams.
MF: You’ve been in karate since the age of ten any idea of what age you’re going to get her started at?
MW: Well she’s already running around throwing punches and stuff. But, it’s all up to her and what she wants to do and I don’t want to force her to do anything. Of course I want her to understand how to defend herself. But, I want her to be happy and passionate about whatever she decides to do and if it’s fighting it would be cool to get her in some of the kids’ classes we teach. She loves it; coach Buddy and coach Alonz.
MF: Being in combat sports for so long; if you had another career outside of fighting what would it has been?
MW: Anything that has to do with martial arts I love to do. I love to teach and that’s part of the reason I got into fighting. I feel like if I want to teach I have to have the credentials behind me saying look I did it, take it from me because I have done it. In the future I would like to teach. I love to do stunts. I’ve done some stunts for movies. I also grew up doing theater. But, outside the martial arts realm; I think I would enjoy being like an event planner. Like a wedding planner.
MF: What do you do for relaxation; how do you kick back?
MW: I spend time with my little one. I mean we could lie in bed all day we sing the alphabet. That’s fun to me. It’s weird the things that change like you’re so called “fun” when you’re a parent.
MF: How has your general view on things changed since becoming a parent?
MW: I just feel like I’m more responsible. Like I have a responsibility, when like before it was kind out just like let your hair blow in the wind and kind of go with the flow and being very spontaneous. You can’t do that as a parent you have responsibilities. There’s this little person growing up and you want to raise em’ the right way.
MF: Being in martial arts for so long what does being a martial artist mean to you?
MW: To me it really is a way of life. It’s the way you treat other people. It’s the way you treat yourself. It’s the way you hold yourself and just kind of the whole mental aspect of it. Like as far as you know the discipline in your life, to have passion, hold that passion, and to peruse it in a respectable way and have good morals.
MF: Everyone should watch Invicta FC 5 online at invictafc.com. Can you give a last comment on my everyone should watch the event>
MW: Everyone should watch the card first of all because it’s a stacked card. Second of all who wouldn’t want to watch me and Jessica Penne go at it. It’s going to be 5 rounds of non-stop action and I’m coming home with the belt.
MF: Jackson’s/Winkeljons will be well represented at Invicta FC 5 April 5, 2013, at the Ameristar Hotel and Casino in Kansas City, Missouri with both Michelle Waterson and Jodie Esquible both in action.
Watch the entire interview by playing the video below…
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