She's killed two hyped fighters who sherdoggers were expecting big things out of. She also holds a win over Andrea Lee. This isn't the same fighter who was on the bantamweight season of TUF. She's a top 10 fighter.
I'm actually trying to come up with someone who has improved more in their career after TUF. I used to say Matt Brown. She has improved more. Those several years outside the UFC, she finally got everything to click.
She is the epitome of an unathletic person who has trained their ass off and maximized their skill level to compete with and beat extremely superior athletes. It's very impressive.
Was a little teary-eyed. Reminded me of Rocky Balboa (Rocky 6) When Mason "the line" Dixon broke his hand and Balboa suddenly had a chance. I love underdogs.
Future Hall of Famer. I'm not joking. One of the real trailblazers of WMMA and amazing shes just getting better as she heads towards her 40's
I was always convinced that her tenure in Japan was holding her back and that she would have a better opportunity in the USA for training mma. She had limited training in Japan and there is a bigger talent pool and resources in the USA. She keeps improving over time. I will always root for her because she shows heart. I bet if she had returned to training in the US earlier she would have an even better record.
Thank you for this thread. I see such bile towards her on these forums. She absolutely deserves respect.
i had the chance to meet her at the ADCC in Long Beach in 2006.. I like that she is qwirky.. She's one of the nicest people too. Spent two years in Japan and speaks fluent Japanese. Impressive career.
I've always given her respect, I was one of few people who said she had a decent chance against Antonina and thought it would be a 50/50 fight. https://forums.sherdog.com/threads/...-discussion-26.3890217/page-20#post-149005551 Indeed. Can you believe that she didn't do strength & conditioning training until after her fights on TUF? It's only in the last 2-3 years or so that she actually had proper structured training in an MMA gym instead of running all over the place trying to train herself.
