Quote

During practice, I train with both women and men. I think it's good to have a mixture of strengths because both have different fighting styles. Every person offers something different, and the more body types you get used to, the better fighter you will become.

I think we've broken a lot of barriers and kind of shattered our glass ceiling that was there for women. There are so many great fighters, and we've proved a lot of people wrong. A lot of the times, our fights are the best fights on the card.

I think that if you do want to be a fighter, then you need to work harder than everybody else and make sure that you surround yourself with good people, especially if you're a woman. You've got to find a team that takes you seriously as a female fighter and is not going to rush you into the ring before you're ready.

Most professional fighters, male and female, hold day jobs, but the women's game attracts a wide social spectrum: hash slingers, teachers, police officers, landscapers, stuntwomen. Many are wives and mothers. Their husbands or boyfriends work their corners, or hide in arena restrooms, scared to watch their bouts.

People like myself have been pushing, competing, and promoting female MMA for a long time, and to see the fans accept a female division in the UFC so quickly is vindication that all that hard work amounted to something.

I hate the stereotype that women who fight are 'butch' or 'wannabe men.' It's nice to be able to embrace being a beautiful, strong woman.

Women like to watch women fight because it makes them feel sort of empowered physically and mentally. They feel kind of jazzed and excited by it.

I'd love to have a chance to fight in the World Series Boxing for women, but nothing has been done about that.

Really, if you get in the ring and box with someone for real, I don't think it is a sport. As far as professional fighters, you are literally putting your life on the line.

Women boxers prefer to focus on the win rather than the bravado. We've come a long way. In the '90s, you only ever saw women parading in heels and a bikini holding a scorecard. Now we're owning it; we should get some male models in Speedos to do the ring walk.