The Force is Strong with Amanda Lucas

Fight Chix chats with Amanda Lucas, MMA Fighter and daughter of Star Wars, George Lucas.

Not everyone in MMA will make the connection that you are in fact the daughter of Star Wars creater George Lucus…how did you get into MMA and what does your dad think of your career choice?

I got into MMA completely by accident. My fiancee wanted to train jiu-jitsu and muay thai, so I went to the gym with him. When I first started I had no intention of actually fighting, I just wanted to get in shape. I never ever thought I would fall in love with the sport.
My dad is supportive of my choosing to fight. I think he worries that I will get hurt, but he is always eager to watch videos of my competitions. He says he is not ready to actually watch me fight in person. I am completely fine with that. I am not ready to have all the extra attention that would probably come from his actually being there.

Who do you currently train with and who have you trained with in the past?

I am a total gym rat. I started jiu-jitsu under Jake Shields. Eventually I came across Lana Stefanac at one of the gym’s I was going to. I instantly connected with her as a person and especially as a teacher. Her style of grappling is something I learn very well. I train with Gilbert Melendez for most of my MMA and wrestling. I do strength and condtioning at Diablo Barbell, boxing with Tareq Azim and Muay Thai with Ganyao at Fairtex.

Do you have any role models, in MMA or in life in general?

I look up to, and have amazing respect for all my trainers, coaches and my training partners. They have all taught me so much and helped me grow as a person and as a fighter. I also have to say my parents and my fiancee, Jason. All three of them have had such an amazing inpact on my life. I would not be the person I am today without their love and support.

Do you have any advice for female fighters coming up?

I would tell any up and coming female fighters to be well rounded. I think its vital for anybody who wants to fight MMA to train all aspects of fighting. Stand-up, ground, wrestling, cardio and eating well.

Can you tell us about the fight you have coming up—who are you fighting? What promotion is it for?

I am fighting on November 7 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for Freestyle Cage Fighting. I am fighting a girl named Christine Gaither. It is her pro debut.

You where part of the US Team that went to New Zealand—you got a fair amount of mainstream press from the event—even a battle photo in People magazine—how was the experience?

New Zealand was a great experience. I think everyone thought it would be a quiet fight with very little, if any, press about me. I was shocked the next day when Jason looked on the internet and saw it was everywhere. I am not a stranger to the press, but usually it has to do with my dad, not me. It was the first time that has ever happened. Fortunately, almost everything that was written was positive, despite the fact that I lost the fight.

What is your day to day life like? Most female fighters have to teach or hold down a fulltime job—do you have a little more freedom with the Lucas name behind you? From what I have heard you don’t ask for any special treatment ever–which is admirable, but to get that competitive edge I could see where focusing on just fighting would be ideal!

I am extremely lucky. I am able to train full time. I am a wife (almost) and a fighter. I could not do what I do without the help and support of my mother. She makes it 100% possible for me to do what I love.
So, a typical day for me consists of getting Jason off to school, then heading to the gym for the first round of training. I usually squeeze in some cardio before I come home to eat, shower and have maybe 30 minutes of down time. Then its back to another gym for some other sort of training or sparring. Then I come home and make dinner. I do this 5 days a week and once on Saturday. After the fight, my schdule will calm down a bit, so I can have a break and rest my body. But I am never out of training for long.

Do you have any pre-fight rituals?

I don’t know if I have any pre-fight rituals. This will only be my second fight. When I compete in grappling tournaments I have learned how to just breath and stay calm, so I am hoping that will carry over to the cage.

Who is your favorite Star War character?

Probably Princess Leah. And I went through a huge Jar Jar phase when we were shooting Episode 1.

After seeing Gina Carano vs Cyborg—-what did you think of the fight and what do you think the fight’s impact had on women’s MMA?

I was at the Cyborg vs. Carano fight. The whole place was chanting Gina’s name. I think it was the first time Gina was put against someone really, really good. I think Gina is a good fighter, but there are so many amazing women that have so many more fights and wins, that you never hear about. Cyborg is a beast. I mean that in a good way.

What are some of your goals in MMA?

My goals in MMA are to keep fighting, and improving. I want to grow as a fighter. I also want to keep dropping down in weight classes. I would eventually like to fight at 155 lbs. I would love to win a title belt, and maybe fight for a large promotion.
Jacob Nuesser is a contributor to MMAmaddess.com and co-owner of Fight Chix Apparel

Catching Up with Miesha Tate

Miesha, can you tell us your background and how you got into mixed martial arts?

I started wrestling my freshmen year of high school and really loved it! When I went to college I joined a MMA club and started learning the basic submission wrestling things like armbars and triangle chokes and I picked it up quickly and really enjoyed it, it wasn’t long after that I found myself fighting and here I am today!!

Who have you trained with and who do you currently train with?

I started with Yakima MMA with Rich Guerin and have since moved on to Victory Athletics with Dennis Hallman. I have also done some cross training with some fantastic gyms/people such as Cung Le’s, AKA, LA Boxing and Ultimate Fitness with Urijah Faber

What is a typical day of training like for you?

If I’m preparing for a fight I usually do a my first workout at about 11 am and I will usually run sprints and do some sort of circuit or resistance training and then I will do fight training at about 6 or 7 depending on the day. If I’m in between fights though I usually just attend fight practice once a day.

When you have some downtime from training and fighting what do you enjoy doing?

I love to rent Redbox movies watch them at home, I love cooking and baking as well so usually I’ll make a dinner first and then watch a movie! I’m an internet junkie too so I like to look around on forums and keep myself updated on whats going on in the MMA world! I like to go out on the weekends and go to a club and get my groove on lol

As a female in a fighting sport, what challenges have you experienced and have you had any advantages?

It seems like its always a challenge at first to be taken seriously and being a female I feel the sport is too focused on our looks. I wouldn’t say there are many advantages except that its easier to get recognized than the guys because there are fewer of us in the sport.

We recently saw you in a FIGHT mag, how has that exposure been?

It was great exposure, I had fun doing the shoot! Paul Thatcher is a fantastic photographer and a very funny guy. I’ve received good and bad criticism from it but either way it got me noticed!!

We have heard you are looking to get back to action in December with Strikeforce promoting—do you have a date or opponent yet? And if not, anyone you’d like to fight?

I’m hoping to be put on the December card which is the 19th, I have no clue who they might have in mind for me if I do get on that card but I would always love to a rematch with either Liz Posener or Kaitlin Young, Liz I lost to as an amateur and she has gone on to do some good things a professional and I’d like another shot at her now and Kaitlin beat me on a tournament night when I was completely exhausted! I think I’ve done enough to deserve a rematch with either of these young ladies!

For all the young women out there that are starting to train, can you offer any advice to them as they progress in their careers?

Respect yourself, because if you don’t you can’t expect anyone else to….especially the guys in the gym. Also don’t be afraid to get out there and pursue your dream, you only live once so just go for it! 

Gina vs Cyborg was a landmark for women’s MMA, what did you think of the fight and what do you think it has done for the growth of the sport for the ladies?

Honestly I think it could have been a better fight but it also could have been much worse. I think Gina had a tremendous amount of pressure on her after such a long layoff and that would be tough on anyone. I think it REALLY put women’s mma on the map though and I love what Scott Coker is doing for the women in this sport. We really owe StrikeForce a big thank you for giving us the opportunity it presents.

Who in or outside of MMA has been a rolemodel to you or inspiration?

Really a lot of people, I could make a huge list lol but my boyfriend Bryan Caraway has been a part of my MMA career since the very beginning and has really helped me evolve as a fighter. My family for doing their best to support me in my crazy ambitions. Also many of the women who are the true pioneers of this sport are just incredible ladies and I have nothing but respect and admiration for what they have done.

Do you have any pre-fight rituals or post fight celebrations?

I always say a prayer before I walk out to the cage and after the fight I like to go out to the after party and enjoy my friends/family/fans and have a good night!

Cyborg, Carano on collision course

By Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports

Cristiane Santos could probably walk down the street in any major city in the U.S. and not have a soul recognize her.

Many fight fans may not recognize her real name.

But say her nickname, Cyborg, and the reaction is always the same: When is she going to fight Gina Carano?

Santos, a Brazilian who meets jiu-jitsu specialist Hitomi Akano of Japan on Saturday’s Strikeforce Card at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., on Showtime, has been on a collision course with mixed martial arts’ most popular female fighter almost from the moment she made her U.S. debut on an Elite XC card in Stockton, Calif., on July 26.

She fights like a female version of Wanderlei Silva, one of the most feared strikers in mixed martial arts history.

“I don’t think a day goes by that someone doesn’t ask me when Gina and Cyborg are going to fight,” Strikeforce promoter Scott Coker said. Strikeforce purchased many of the assets of Pro Elite, which was going out of business. Among them were the contracts of two of the most high-profile women in the business.

Saturday’s card is the first for Strikeforce since the purchase, but Coker said he never had planned to put Carano and Santos on this card. Carano, though, plans to fight again in the summer and that may be the time the fight occurs.

“Gina’s management wanted the fight right away, but it always seemed to make more sense to me to wait a little and to let it build,” Coker said.

Santos, 23, is as eager for the fight as Carano, which will be the biggest in women’s MMA history when it is held. Though Pro Elite considered it a pay-per-view bout, Coker said he’ll put the fight on Showtime.

She was a national-level handball player in Curritiba, Brazil, when Chute Boxe Academy trainer Rudimar Fedrigo happened to see her.

He saw her athleticism and her intensity and thought she’d be a natural for MMA. Santos, who was then known as Cristiane Justino, wasn’t so sure. But she reluctantly agreed to give it a try.

It turned out to be a life-changing event for her, and not just because she would go on to become among the elite female fighters in the world. On her first day in the gym, she met Evangelista Santos, an MMA fighter who was training at Chute Boxe. He eventually became her husband.

He, too, is nicknamed Cyborg, though there’s no argument in the family over who the real Cyborg is. “It’s his name,” she said. “I took it to honor him.” The Santoses aren’t the only couple in which both husband and wife became fighters – Randy and Kim Couture and Spencer and Emily Fisher are MMA fighters, while Brandon Vera is an MMA fighter and his wife, Kerry, is a Muay Thai boxer – though they’re the only ones who are known by the same name.

She said her style resembles her husband’s because he’s worked with her on her technique from the early days.

And she said it’s helped her mentally, as well. Every fighter has self doubts, but she said having a spouse who is a fighter as well makes a significant difference.

“He totally understands what I’m going through,” she said. “He’s an experienced fighter and has been around a long time. I may come across something I haven’t seen before and he can talk to me about it and explain it to me. And when I have a problem, he’s very understanding.”

She didn’t fight for nearly two years until joining Pro Elite, because she said there weren’t many women at or around her weight of between 140 and 150 pounds. She continued to train, but was getting frustrated by not being able to fight. Pro Elite, though, put it on two of its Elite XC cards and she suddenly skyrocketed to stardom.

“You just have to watch her first for a couple of minutes and you know why,” Coker said. “She’s like a Tasmanian Devil. From the first second, she’s all over you. She comes out and comes at you and tries to wear you down and knock you out. That’s the kind of fighter people love.”

Carano is one of the top draws in the sport, be it a man or a woman, and she also employs an entertaining style. Santos said she likes watching Carano fight, but would prefer to be the one in the cage swapping blows with her.

“She’s a pretty good fighter, but I don’t know how good she really is,” Santos said of Carano. “She always has a lot of media around her because she’s famous, but [fame] won’t win a fight. You have to do it in the cage.”

Santos said she doesn’t know all that much Akano, her opponent on Saturday, but insisted she won’t be looking ahead to a date with Carano.

“You know how MMA is,” she said. “There are so many ways to win and to lose. You have to be just as prepared for every fight. And I think one of my strengths is the way I prepare. I know [Akano] has very good jiu-jitsu, but my goal is to prove I’m an all-around fighter.”

Carano Plans August Return Against ‘Cyborg’ (from Sherdog.com)

lhunt@sherdog.com)

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Gina Carano has Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos in her sights, but the sport’s first female mega-bout is looking more and more like a late summer blockbuster.“I probably will shoot for August,” Carano told the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown Radio” show on Saturday from The Fight Expo in Del Mar, Calif. “I can’t really think about anybody else [but Cyborg] right now. Everybody’s like, let’s get some tune-ups or let’s get some of this, but I can’t fight anybody else in that position because there’s this big fight between me and ‘Cyborg’ and I feel all my energy should just go to that. Before I can even think about anybody else, I just can’t fit another opponent in my mind without getting that one done.”

Since the announcement of Strikeforce’s purchase of select Pro Elite contracts in February, the congenial Carano’s status has been a key topic of discussion. Reports have suggested “the face of women’s MMA” was gung-ho to return to the cage in April or May, but she said those accounts were premature.

“If you haven’t heard it from my mouth… I never said I was going to fight in May,” said Carano. “I never said I was going to fight in April, so people might talk and make guesses, but if it’s not coming out of my mouth, it’s not true.”

Although the promotion offered Carano bouts in its April and May events, Strikeforce has apparently given the newly proposed timetable its blessing.

“We would love to have Gina come fight for us in August,” wrote Mike Afromowitz, director of media relations for Strikeforce, in an email to Sherdog.com on Tuesday. “A fight between her and Cyborg in August would be great. It’s important that fighters return to action when they feel comfortable and ready to do so.”

Gina Carano exclusive interview.

Whether the August matchup would be slotted as a headliner, or if there is any chance the anticipated bout could be relegated to a CBS broadcast or even allotted to pay-per-view was something Afromowitz wouldn’t comment on. Strikeforce announced a multi-year broadcast deal on Feb. 5 with Showtime, which will host up to 10 events in 2009, and up to 16 in 2010. CBS, the parent conglomerate of Showtime, is expected to adopt a couple of those events as well, possibly as early as the fall.

The extra time will also allow fighter and promoter the opportunity to come to terms on money, while Santos faces grappling ace Hitomi Akano next in the interim at Strikeforce’s April 11 event.

Carano’s agent, Matt Walker, of the Wasserman Media Group, has been in talks with Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker since February to restructure the undefeated fighter’s contract with the San Jose-based promotion. Carano (7-0) was paid a measly $25,000 for her three-round decision over Kelly Kobold last October on EliteXC’s “Saturday Night Fights broadcast on CBS. However, she has drawn just as much attention to the sport as her top male counterparts.

In addition to her stint on NBC’s revitalized “American Gladiators” last year, Carano was named one of Yahoo’s Top 10 Influential Women of 2008, alongside New York State Senator and former first lady Hilary Clinton, vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, media guru Oprah Winfrey, and movie star and humanitarian Angelina Jolie. The striking 26-year-old was also coupled with to the late Bruce Lee in a retrospective Pepsi commercial, which aired during the last Superbowl.

Carano’s last fight on CBS was seen by nearly 5.2 million viewers, and drew in an additional million set of eyes from the bout that preceded it. Carano’s only visible downside would be her struggles to make weight before her fights; Carano noted that she’d just undergone a month-long diet detox program.

Regardless, a pay raise would seem to be in order, but the two sides have yet to come to a deal. At a Strikeforce press conference on March 12 in Los Angeles, Coker likened the negotiations to a “holdout” from “training camp,” but both sides have described discussions as both open and amicable.

The sport’s ultimate lady-in-waiting has had other suitors as well. Carano confirmed to Sherdog.com that she met with UFC owners Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White one day before the Strikeforce-Showtime union was announced, after Fertitta contracted Carano’s father, Glen. Carano and Fertitta formerly served on the Nevada State Athletic Commission together.

“It was really the first time I really ever talked to either one personally,” said Carano. “They expressed doing something with me, but the very next day, Strikeforce had the contracts. [Fertitta and White] are pretty intelligent guys. They had a strong presence about them and it was really cool to meet them. I can’t not take that as a compliment that they had me in.”

Carano was impressed with the UFC contingent — which has told the press it has interest in promoting one-off bouts with her. However, Carano knows she has more futures to consider than just her own.

“Strikeforce has a vision for women. They want to do something with women,” said Carano, who’d likely have to enter into the legal realm to contest Strikeforce’s claim to her present contract.

Some might argue that Carano, Strikeforce, Showtime, and possibly even the sport itself would be better served to have the raven-haired beauty face another opponent, both for the sheer experience and to further suspend build-up for the anticipated showdown with Santos. The Xtreme Couture fighter seems to have made up her mind though.

“I really just want something to make me train, to make me mentally take it to the next level, and I really think a fight like ‘Cyborg’ will do that,” said Carano.

Fight Chix joins Women Talk Sports

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Kim Couture vs Lina Kvokov Strike Force 13

Fight Chix sponsored Lina Kvokov in her bout with Kim Couture. She did get over matched in this battle, but we are still proud of any fighter that steps up and gets in the cage. Good job Lina!
See the fight here

Lina Kvokov and Kim Couture

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10% OFF if you enter MISSRARA

Check out some of the new gear from FIGHT CHIX, and some of the old favorites.
Order at www. fightchix. com and enter missrara as the coupon code for 10% off your purchase!

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UFC 90

UFC 90 was a wild WILD week of fun in Chicago for FIGHT CHIX. We had Miss Rara fly out and stay with us. (see www.missrara.com) She had a blast and always has such a postive energy that spreads to everyone…it was a treat to have her in Chicago.

10.22 was a preparty at Sushi Samba. Fabricio Werdum and his Chute Boxe crew came by. Tracy Lee made a brief appearance with Miguel Torres and Cole Miller. Heidi from Bella Entertainment was playing host for the party and she did a great job. Also there were the owners of Caged In MMA Apparel Store. All great people!

10.23 we were off to a few clubs in the city. After picking up Rara from the airport, we had a nice dinner and then off to meet Shonie Carter and George the Greek at Club 720. Again Tracy Lee popped in with Miguel Torres. Miguel and Rara did a little salsa dancing…and Shonie one upped them by dacing with BOTH Rara and Elisabeth. Then it was off to Enclave and finally to Level, where Dan, the VIP host took great care of us—giving us a VIP experience and bottle service for all the visitors that came in to hang with us—Clay Guida, Cole Miller, Tracy Lee, and a group of CRAZY Canadians who are all friends with Patrick Cote.

10.24 was a more relaxed day—of recovery. We headed to Maple Ave Pub for some preparty fun during “lover boy” night. Then it was off to Spy Bar for www.combatlifestlye.com 1 year anniversary party. Plenty of fighters where on hand enjoying a good time.

10.25 Elisabeth’s Birthday—AND the UFC. We had sponsored Fabricio Werdum, and unexpectedly he was KOed in the first minute. We are glad to hear he is ok, but he did sustain some serious injuries that forced him to lay low that night. We had a huge after party planned for him at Level (www.levelchicago.com) but he was unable to attend. So when we where at the hotel to pick him up—we grabbed Hermes Franca, Dean Lister, Greg from the TapouT show, and a few other fighters to get them into the city for some fun. The FIGHT CHIX After Party was INSANE and plenty of great music and lots and LOTS to drink.

We also debuted the new guys shirt “Trust No Bitch” photos coming soon!