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- May 10, 2010
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http://www.espn.com/espnw/culture/f...-meet-ufc-only-cutwoman?addata=espn:frontpage
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
I always wondered who she was, and if she was competent at her job. Seems like a dedicated professional and takes her job very seriously.
Excerpts from the ESPN article:
Two weeks after Valentine discovered her dream job, she found out she was pregnant. Being a cutman would have to wait. She became a stay-at-home mom who worked nights at the front desk of a hotel on her husband's Air Force base. A second son was born a year-and-a-half later. The couple moved again, this time to Idaho.
It wasn't until 2009 -- three years after her first and only stint as a Tinker Bell ring card girl -- that Valentine turned her attention back to MMA. She emailed legendary boxing and UFC cutman Jacob "Stitch" Duran, who advised her to research hand-wrapping online and go to her nearest boxing, martial arts or MMA gyms and beg to wrap as many hands as possible -- the skill would be her key into the business.
The nearest gym was in Boise -- 69 miles away. She squirreled away her money for gas and $5 rolls of gauze, ace bandages and white medical tape from Rite Aid. After getting the gym owner's permission, she set up shop in a metal chair in the corner, where she sat with her purse in her lap, waiting to approach each fighter who seemed amenable. The guys were all good sports.
"They'd all say, 'No it's good,' when they were probably dying underneath, their hands turning blue," she says.
Still, it was Boise. Business was slow. "After six months, I was 24," Valentine says. "I realized, 'Man, I've got to be in Las Vegas, the fight capital of the world.'" But she couldn't uproot her family. With airfare usually too costly, she'd pack her sons in her car and make the eight-hour drive to Xtreme Couture, the training center started by MMA pioneer and former UFC Champion Randy Couture, where Valentine had arranged to set up shop on weekends.
There, in 2011, she got her break by meeting longtime UFC cutman Adrian Rosenbusch. He took Valentine under his wing, helping her perfect hand-wrapping as well as showing her the art of the cut. Working on a mannequin, he drilled her on hitting the wound with an ice bag or an ice-cold enswell (a small metal iron) as quickly as possible and holding it as long as she could to apply pressure and reduce the swelling. He also taught her how to use a cold towel to clean and cool the laceration, before swabbing with epinephrine to reduce blood flow and then a coagulate to halt it altogether.
After the two divorced in 2011, Valentine became desperate. She was now a single mother trying to work a job that was hundreds of miles away and still paid nothing. She donated plasma for $30 a stab -- sometimes twice a week. That Halloween, she couldn't afford costumes for her children. Christmas was coming fast.
She didn't quit. Soon, on Rosenbusch's recommendation, she was working small amateur tournaments. She made monthly trips to Vegas while the kids stayed with her parents on the weekends and with their father during the summer. She pieced together part-time jobs at Petco and Outback Steakhouse and continued to give blood. She started buying gauze and tape in bulk.
Finally, in 2012, Valentine landed a paying gig with a professional minor-league promotion, World Series of Fighting, when a senior cutman recommended her as a last-minute replacement. Word of mouth helped Valentine rise quickly through the ranks in different organizations such as Titan FC, King of the Cage and Bellator. She was the first female cutperson at every level.
That distinction came at a price. Some promotions didn't want her to work major events. She was repeatedly cursed out in the cage and told to "f--- off" when she tried to do her job. At one event, Valentine had jumped into the octagon to tend to a fighter when the coach came up from behind, told her, "We don't need a f---ing cutman! Get the f---k out of here!" and then threw her to the mat. After a colleague reported the incident to an official, Valentine eventually got an "apology" when the coach muttered, "Next time ask, b----," in passing.
I always wondered who she was, and if she was competent at her job. Seems like a dedicated professional and takes her job very seriously.
Excerpts from the ESPN article:
Two weeks after Valentine discovered her dream job, she found out she was pregnant. Being a cutman would have to wait. She became a stay-at-home mom who worked nights at the front desk of a hotel on her husband's Air Force base. A second son was born a year-and-a-half later. The couple moved again, this time to Idaho.
It wasn't until 2009 -- three years after her first and only stint as a Tinker Bell ring card girl -- that Valentine turned her attention back to MMA. She emailed legendary boxing and UFC cutman Jacob "Stitch" Duran, who advised her to research hand-wrapping online and go to her nearest boxing, martial arts or MMA gyms and beg to wrap as many hands as possible -- the skill would be her key into the business.
The nearest gym was in Boise -- 69 miles away. She squirreled away her money for gas and $5 rolls of gauze, ace bandages and white medical tape from Rite Aid. After getting the gym owner's permission, she set up shop in a metal chair in the corner, where she sat with her purse in her lap, waiting to approach each fighter who seemed amenable. The guys were all good sports.
"They'd all say, 'No it's good,' when they were probably dying underneath, their hands turning blue," she says.
Still, it was Boise. Business was slow. "After six months, I was 24," Valentine says. "I realized, 'Man, I've got to be in Las Vegas, the fight capital of the world.'" But she couldn't uproot her family. With airfare usually too costly, she'd pack her sons in her car and make the eight-hour drive to Xtreme Couture, the training center started by MMA pioneer and former UFC Champion Randy Couture, where Valentine had arranged to set up shop on weekends.
There, in 2011, she got her break by meeting longtime UFC cutman Adrian Rosenbusch. He took Valentine under his wing, helping her perfect hand-wrapping as well as showing her the art of the cut. Working on a mannequin, he drilled her on hitting the wound with an ice bag or an ice-cold enswell (a small metal iron) as quickly as possible and holding it as long as she could to apply pressure and reduce the swelling. He also taught her how to use a cold towel to clean and cool the laceration, before swabbing with epinephrine to reduce blood flow and then a coagulate to halt it altogether.
After the two divorced in 2011, Valentine became desperate. She was now a single mother trying to work a job that was hundreds of miles away and still paid nothing. She donated plasma for $30 a stab -- sometimes twice a week. That Halloween, she couldn't afford costumes for her children. Christmas was coming fast.
She didn't quit. Soon, on Rosenbusch's recommendation, she was working small amateur tournaments. She made monthly trips to Vegas while the kids stayed with her parents on the weekends and with their father during the summer. She pieced together part-time jobs at Petco and Outback Steakhouse and continued to give blood. She started buying gauze and tape in bulk.
Finally, in 2012, Valentine landed a paying gig with a professional minor-league promotion, World Series of Fighting, when a senior cutman recommended her as a last-minute replacement. Word of mouth helped Valentine rise quickly through the ranks in different organizations such as Titan FC, King of the Cage and Bellator. She was the first female cutperson at every level.
That distinction came at a price. Some promotions didn't want her to work major events. She was repeatedly cursed out in the cage and told to "f--- off" when she tried to do her job. At one event, Valentine had jumped into the octagon to tend to a fighter when the coach came up from behind, told her, "We don't need a f---ing cutman! Get the f---k out of here!" and then threw her to the mat. After a colleague reported the incident to an official, Valentine eventually got an "apology" when the coach muttered, "Next time ask, b----," in passing.
