Wow...it has been a long time since I have blogged! A lot has happened since October of last year.

After the fight with Sarah Kaufman fell through because Elite XC went under, I decided it was a good time to finish school. Up until that point, I had been taking full-time credits while training. I knew that I could finish up in one semester if I took 20 credits (internship included), but training for a fight would be difficult. Because my contract was in limbo, and it seemed like good timing, that is what I did.

I finished my last class in June, and have been working mostly full-time for a non-profit girls volleyball club as a strength and conditioning coach. I do some of the office work there as well. They have been AWESOME as far as being flexible for my training schedule. The job is a little further drive from my house than I would like, but everything else about it is great.

I had a shoulder injury a while ago, but it is healing VERY well. Right now I am looking out for fights @ 135. I can't wait to fight again. I'm excited to have to only work and train without having to fit time for school and homework in the mix!

For those of you that haven't heard, Elite XC officially went out of business on Monday. Because of this my fight that was supposed to be against Sarah Kaufman on November 8th is cancelled, along with the rest of the fights on the card. There will be no more Elite XC or Sho XC events in the future.

Unless someone decides to buy Proelite's assets, I am now a free agent. I think the next few months are going to be tough on the MMA community, especially for female fighters as there is no other large organization for us to fight under at this time. I feel that I have been very fortunate to get the kind of opportunities and exposure I have in the first year of my professional fighting career, but I am considerably bummed out by this. 

On a positive note, this will free me to fight more often. I have not had a fight for five months because of my contract with Elite. Though the fights in the near future may not be as big, it will give me an opportunity to gain experience, stay active and develop as a mixed martial artist.

I finally have another fight lined up with Elite XC! I will be fighting Sarah Kaufman on the November 8th show in Reno, Nevada. This fight should be on Showtime, but I'm not yet sure what time it will air.

If you haven't heard of Sarah  look her up. She's Canadian, so some of the people in the US don't know of her yet but she's a great addition to the female roster and someone that I respect quite a bit. I can't wait to fight her.

I am tempted to see if I can use South Park's "Blame Canada" as my entrance music though

Lots of stuff actually. I'm training a lot getting ready for this fight and was fortunate enough to get to spend a couple of days at Erik Paulson's CSW camp over the weekend which was an absolute treat! Now its back to training at MMAA and finals week (yikes!). I'm having a tough time finding the desire on school, but I have less than a week left. We have a couple of really great guys visiting right now and I could not be more happy about how the training camp is going.

There are also a couple of things I would like to let everyone know about:

The Thai Boxing Association yearly amateur Muay Thai tournament is taking place July 11 - 13. If you are an amateur fighter and you can make it I highly suggest that you go. Even if you plan on fighting MMA, it is a great way to gain striking experience before beginning a professional career. They have junior divisions as well, so don't think that because you are under 18 you can't compete. I fought there last year and it was an incredibly well run tournament. I have also fought for the promoters Pete and Pam Peterson several times and they are great. We will have a bunch of guys going, so I hope to see you there. Check it out:
http://www.tbasanctioning.org/

Also, there is a great new site that has been created for women's fighting by Jeff Osborn. If you don't know him, he is the guy who has been puting on women's fights from the beginning on his HookNShoot shows. They have a forum and all that jazz, with much more in the works. Julie Kedzie already has a blog up there, and I think eventually I will do some writing for them as well.
gfight.tv

I fought at a hooknshoot tournament back in November. They are finally releasing the fights on the Vault, so I’ll put links on here if you wanna check them out.

First round vs Suzi Smith:
http://fight.bodoglife.net/media/135-young-smith

Second round vs Miesha Tate:
http://fight.bodoglife.net/media/135-young-tate

Final vs Patti Lee
http://fight.bodoglife.net/media/135-125-lee-young

After considering a couple of options, I've decided to sign with Elite XC. They made a great offer and it will hopefully result in more exposure and opportunities for sponsorship. Their women's division is at the 140 weight class rather than 135, so I am starting a new strength training program in order to gain some productive weight. If that doesn't work, there is always cookie dough. I'm not yet sure when or with whom the first fight for them will be.

My last fight has really put a fire under my ass about developing a better ground game. I have never been shy about the fact that I have a lot to work on, but I am even more motivated now. I guess suffering a loss has a way of doing that:-) I think Ryan and I are going to hit up the Titan Grappling Open this weekend in Chicago, and any other grappling tournaments we can make in the near future. Let me know if you know of any within driving distance of the Twin Cities!Should be a grand old time!

 

Well, if you haven't heard yet, both Ryan and I lost our fights. Nick Thompson won and did a great job.

I ended up getting caught in an armbar after I dropped her with a jab and tried to pounce on her in order to pound out a win. I was a bit overzealous! Im bummed about the loss, but happy about several parts of the rest of the fight. I was able to escape several submissions (though the problem is getting caught in the first place!), and rocked her couple times on the feet. She was one tough chick! She did a great job of capitalizing on a few key errors that I made, and I definately have some work to do. Aside from the loss, it was a very fun fight. Again, I'm so glad that she stepped in last minute.

Ryan was caught by a hard overhand in the third round which resulted in a flash knockdown. His opponent tried to finish with GnP and the fight was called. Prior to that the fight was mostly on the feet with both guys trading.

I didn't get to watch all of Thompson's fight, but it ended with him punishing Troyer from half-guard and finishing with a neck crank of some kind.

The guy Ryan fought, Bryan Humes, told the promoter that he was going to weigh in at 230lbs which is why Ryan accepted the fight on 4 days notice. His camp thought the match up was perfect, with Ryan weighing in at 222 and Bryan weighing in at 260. Funny that the guy needed a 38 lb difference and 3 rounds to get the TKO. Maybe I should start fighting girls in the 115 range...

So how cool is this, one of the heavy weight guys pulled out last minute...and Ryan Murrray is going to fill the void. Those of you who have seen Ryan fight or been victimized by him in sparring know how much fun this will be to watch. They guy he is fighting also has a background in Thai Boxing, so it should be a slugger!!!!

This is on the same card as myself and Nick Thompson, so go Minnesota Martial Arts Academy!!!