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http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2016/4/1...olly-holm-leslie-smith-fan-misconceptions-ufc
After more than a decade of hard work and mowing down 15 out of 16 opponents, the woman many call the most dominant female in the sport, Cris Cyborg, is finally in the UFC. While developing a large fan base of loyal followers, she still finds herself at odds with a small contingent of the community.
In a recent interview with the Three Amigos Podcast, Cris fielded a variety of questions over the course of a 20-minute interview. Some takeaways from the interview:
She's letting bygones be bygones with Joe Rogan
She doesn't feel that she has an unfair advantage over Leslie Smith
She has a healthy understanding of why Holm turned down a fight with her
She feels Ronda's loss to Holm was nothing to be embarrassed about
She wants fans to know she's a nice person
She loves working with George Lockhart
Joe Rogan comments & apology
You know, everybody has the right to their opinion. I don't think what he said was right, but I'm over it. If he wants to make it up to me he can invite me and my diet coach (George Lockhart) onto his podcast! We will be working together and (the situation) is over for me.
Leslie Smith
Leslie is a good fighter, and I definitely respect her because a lot of fighters said no to this fight. She said she really wanted to fight me and I have a lot of respect for that. I think it will be a great fight; Leslie always shows up to fight and when I found out she would be my opponent I thought, ‘nice, this could be fight of the night.'
Ronda & Holly turning down fights with Cris
You know, you can't push a fighter into a fight, it's better for them to compete because they want to challenge themselves. I like to challenge myself. I'm an MMA world champ, but I fought the Muay Thai world champ because I like to challenge myself. Maybe I'll lose, maybe I'll win, but I'll be getting better.
I think when Ronda comes back to fight, all of the fans want to watch me fight her. She has talked about me in the past, she has pushed the idea of this fight, but after that said I had to make 135lbs to fight her, because she knew it was impossible for me. Now I'm in a 140lbs catchweight division, so if she wants to challenge herself and not just talk, we can make the fight happen.
I respect Holly Holm. She's a great fighter and she has had big changes in her life now. She's a good person. Miesha Tate is a good person too. I'm here to fight anyone, but fighters either want to challenge themselves or not, and I can't change that. I can only control myself and challenge myself, so I just have to focus on May 14th, making 140lbs and fighting Leslie Smith.
Ronda's loss to Holm
When you're a fighter you can lose or win, it happens. It's nothing to be embarrassed about. A lot of things can happen in a fight. After the fight she was hiding and didn't want to show her face. I think once she gets in more fights she'll get better and realize losing isn't the end of the world, you know?
That's just my opinion, I've been an MMA fighter for 10 years and I've learned a lot of things; sometimes good things, sometimes bad things, but these things had to happen for me to get better and learn.
Biggest misconceptions fans have
I think a lot of new fans don't know so much about MMA. They ask, ‘Ah do you do UFC?' No, I don't do UFC, I do mixed martial arts! [laughs] Some people don't even try to learn about you. They'll read one thing in the media, ‘Ah, they said this about Cyborg,' and everyone will say the same thing. Everybody keeps talking about me, but they don't know me.
Some people meet me and are like, ‘Oh! You're actually really nice!' It's like, man, did you think I wasn't? I am nice. I have to be mean and aggressive when I fight, because that's my job, it's how I put food on my table. Outside of the cage I'm a normal person, I have a house and a family. Some people don't realize there's a difference, but I think people are learning, I hope they learn.
Working with George Lockhart
George Lockhart is very important for me, he helps with my nutrition and he has also become my friend. We have known each other almost two years. At the start I think he found it hard to understand me, but now we understand and help each other. With him it's about making the weight while being healthy.
Every type of body needs different things. George can explain what type of food works best for my body. I don't have so many carbs like rice and pasta because my body works better on good fats. He has me eat every three hours and I feel better in my body and I always have energy when I'm training.
We've been working together for almost two years and we get better and better. I think it's important to have a good relationship, because it means he knows more about me and he can just look at me and go, ‘oh, you need more of this.'
I'm really happy with my diet and I think we're going to make a book together soon. We want to write a book to help people, especially girls. There are extra challenges for girls like being on their period or holding more water than guys. It's a challenge for him as well because he works mostly with guys. I think it'll be a great book for helping girls.
These are just a few things we covered with Cris yesterday. You can listen to this excellent interview in its entirety here
After more than a decade of hard work and mowing down 15 out of 16 opponents, the woman many call the most dominant female in the sport, Cris Cyborg, is finally in the UFC. While developing a large fan base of loyal followers, she still finds herself at odds with a small contingent of the community.
In a recent interview with the Three Amigos Podcast, Cris fielded a variety of questions over the course of a 20-minute interview. Some takeaways from the interview:
She's letting bygones be bygones with Joe Rogan
She doesn't feel that she has an unfair advantage over Leslie Smith
She has a healthy understanding of why Holm turned down a fight with her
She feels Ronda's loss to Holm was nothing to be embarrassed about
She wants fans to know she's a nice person
She loves working with George Lockhart
Joe Rogan comments & apology
You know, everybody has the right to their opinion. I don't think what he said was right, but I'm over it. If he wants to make it up to me he can invite me and my diet coach (George Lockhart) onto his podcast! We will be working together and (the situation) is over for me.
Leslie Smith
Leslie is a good fighter, and I definitely respect her because a lot of fighters said no to this fight. She said she really wanted to fight me and I have a lot of respect for that. I think it will be a great fight; Leslie always shows up to fight and when I found out she would be my opponent I thought, ‘nice, this could be fight of the night.'
Ronda & Holly turning down fights with Cris
You know, you can't push a fighter into a fight, it's better for them to compete because they want to challenge themselves. I like to challenge myself. I'm an MMA world champ, but I fought the Muay Thai world champ because I like to challenge myself. Maybe I'll lose, maybe I'll win, but I'll be getting better.
I think when Ronda comes back to fight, all of the fans want to watch me fight her. She has talked about me in the past, she has pushed the idea of this fight, but after that said I had to make 135lbs to fight her, because she knew it was impossible for me. Now I'm in a 140lbs catchweight division, so if she wants to challenge herself and not just talk, we can make the fight happen.
I respect Holly Holm. She's a great fighter and she has had big changes in her life now. She's a good person. Miesha Tate is a good person too. I'm here to fight anyone, but fighters either want to challenge themselves or not, and I can't change that. I can only control myself and challenge myself, so I just have to focus on May 14th, making 140lbs and fighting Leslie Smith.
Ronda's loss to Holm
When you're a fighter you can lose or win, it happens. It's nothing to be embarrassed about. A lot of things can happen in a fight. After the fight she was hiding and didn't want to show her face. I think once she gets in more fights she'll get better and realize losing isn't the end of the world, you know?
That's just my opinion, I've been an MMA fighter for 10 years and I've learned a lot of things; sometimes good things, sometimes bad things, but these things had to happen for me to get better and learn.
Biggest misconceptions fans have
I think a lot of new fans don't know so much about MMA. They ask, ‘Ah do you do UFC?' No, I don't do UFC, I do mixed martial arts! [laughs] Some people don't even try to learn about you. They'll read one thing in the media, ‘Ah, they said this about Cyborg,' and everyone will say the same thing. Everybody keeps talking about me, but they don't know me.
Some people meet me and are like, ‘Oh! You're actually really nice!' It's like, man, did you think I wasn't? I am nice. I have to be mean and aggressive when I fight, because that's my job, it's how I put food on my table. Outside of the cage I'm a normal person, I have a house and a family. Some people don't realize there's a difference, but I think people are learning, I hope they learn.
Working with George Lockhart
George Lockhart is very important for me, he helps with my nutrition and he has also become my friend. We have known each other almost two years. At the start I think he found it hard to understand me, but now we understand and help each other. With him it's about making the weight while being healthy.
Every type of body needs different things. George can explain what type of food works best for my body. I don't have so many carbs like rice and pasta because my body works better on good fats. He has me eat every three hours and I feel better in my body and I always have energy when I'm training.
We've been working together for almost two years and we get better and better. I think it's important to have a good relationship, because it means he knows more about me and he can just look at me and go, ‘oh, you need more of this.'
I'm really happy with my diet and I think we're going to make a book together soon. We want to write a book to help people, especially girls. There are extra challenges for girls like being on their period or holding more water than guys. It's a challenge for him as well because he works mostly with guys. I think it'll be a great book for helping girls.
These are just a few things we covered with Cris yesterday. You can listen to this excellent interview in its entirety here
