In advance of the upcoming Ring Of Fire 40 “Backlash” event we were able to catch up with the Bobcat, Michelle Blalock, and talk opponents, trainings and nerves…

FF: This will be your pro debut after an undefeated amateur run. How many fights did you have?

MB: Six total, but on record, four.

FF: How is it that you had six total but only four on record?

MB: Two were uncommissioned. But for me as a fighter, it counts as cage time and if you win it’s a win. But technically, I’m 4-0.

FF: So what can you tell us about your opponent for ROF 40, Heather Clark?

MB: She is no longer my opponent. We just found out she is going to take another fight in New Mexico so she is not going to come to Colorado.

FF: Do you know anything about her replacement?

MB: Beth Revell. She’s got more of a record than Heather did. She’s out of Iowa. I saw some video footage on her…nothing changes. I’m just going to do what I do, make sure I’m well-rounded and stand in there.

FF: Is that something you do, watch video footage of your opponents if you can?

MB: If I can, yeah. I kind of let Michael (Sullivan, her coach) do the watching for me because he knows me the best. He knows how to train me and what I’m going to think if I find this out or that out. So he knows whether to withhold information or not so I let him do that. If he wants to show me some footage he’ll show me some footage. The biggest thing I focus on is having no preference.

FF: How did this fight come about for you?

MB: I called Sven (Bean, ROF promoter) and told him, “I want to go pro. It’s time. My last two fights were pro level and I think I’ve earned it.”

FF: Were you tested as an amateur?

MB: Oh yeah, my last fight definitely.  It was my title fight with Audrey Pang. She was no joke; she was not going to give up and it was my first 3 round battle. It was definitely a challenge where I came out on top and did what I do. Before that all my wins ended in the first round.

FF: What title was that?

MB: The Ring of Fire Young Guns.

FF: Where do you have your sights set as a pro?

MB: Of course, everybody wants title belts, everyone wants to be champion but I try to take it one fight at a time and if the offer is going to come up I would like to see who it is and what it’s going to take to get there. I want as many belts as I can…it looks good but at the same time I want to be challenged.

FF: So this fight coming up against Beth, what does it represent for you, more experience, another potential “W” on your record…?

MB: I would say both. Every time I go in I’m one to challenge myself and push myself and that’s every single fight. I don’t look at any fight as a stepping stone, I really don’t. I just go one fight at a time and I want to win and I want to do my best, every fight. Of course, if you do your best and you win, that’s going to lead you to better things so, be that as it may I just, like I said focus on no preference.

FF: What kind of fighter is Beth from what you’ve seen on film?

MB: (Looks at coach Michael Sullivan) and asks, “Do you know?”

Sullivan: She started out with submission grappling…she has done a couple boxing matches…and she says she’s in Mixed Martial Arts because she’s had a poor body image most of her life and she likes to look good, so that’s what I know about her so far. I’m putting together a “psych” profile on her still. The way I do it is, who cares about the video because their fighting skills change per day. I put together a psych profile on her…all of  her interviews, everything that they’ve ever said, and then we build up the type of person that we’re looking at. And then we go back and we look at their physicality and we see what we’re really going to be facing.

FF: How does that work out for you?

(MS): We’ve never missed. I look the person up and I see what I can find out about them just on basic stuff, visual pictures, find their fight videos, look up their interviews so I can get their profile started. And then I look her (Michelle) up so I can see what the other coaches would have and I start building a plan against her (Michelle) actually. We have to counter their game before they bring it out. Because, you can fight with any pro, sparring for three rounds and by the end of that three rounds have them pretty much figured out. But the problem is you don’t have three rounds to figure them out. So you have to have this figured out before you walk in.

FF: For the people that just spectate and don’t know what a training camp is like, tell us what your training camps are all about.

MB: Yeah, for the people that don’t know, there’s really no way to know unless they’ve lived it. Camp is very intensive out of Fuseboxe Mixed Martial Arts, very intensive. We take things very seriously but at the same time I have to giggle and goof off while I train or I’m not happy (laughs).

FF: How many hours a day do you train?

MB: I train at least part-time. I make sure I only work part-time even though that doesn’t bring in so much money, so I have more time to train. I train at least 25-30 hours per week. That’s me. Then closer and closer to the fight, he (Michael Sullivan) actually has to make me take days off because I get weird. I’m like, “Oh my gosh I have to train, I have to train, I have to train, train, train…The last thing I want it to come down to is a conditioning thing. Let’s say somebody matches you on a skill, the last thing you want to do is gas out. I want to be able to last the longest. Plus this is my pro camp so it’s no longer three 3 minute rounds, it’s three 5 minute rounds so we’ve upped the training quite a bit. So this next three weeks is when it’s going to get pretty intensive. The next three weeks I’m going to be crying (laughs).

FF: What are you going to do differently, just more?

MB: That’s a good question for Michael because he comes up with that stuff. I know we’ll do some altitude training for sure…Red Rocks…it will be more intensive, probably more sprints, more sand bag, more resistance training, just more of what I’m doing already and some altitude training. Probably some oxygen cool stuff somehow, he’ll come up with something.

FF: Saturday night is UFC 128 Shogun Rua V. Jon Jones. Who are you taking?

MB: You would think that I’d pay attention more, but I don’t. I like to watch the fights just for the fights. I don’t usually root for somebody unless…I always watch Fedor. Fedor is one of my favorite fighters. I don’t watch them avidly especially if I’m in camp I just shut the world off. I train, train, train, then I go home and I eat and sleep and then I go to work and I train (laughs). But that’s what I choose to do. That’s what I love to do. That’s why I still do it. I don’t think anybody would get in the cage a second time if they didn’t love it.

FF: Yeah, how could you?

MB: Yeah, it wouldn’t make sense to me, I don’t know how you could without loving it. And that’s how I got into it. I started doing grappling tournaments and I just loved the competition factor and I just kind of got the bug. I didn’t intend on ever getting in the ring. In fact, I remember telling Cat Albert (Zingano), she was asking, “Are you going to fight?” And at the time I was like, “No. I absolutely have nothing to prove.” Then I started thinking about it and was like, “Ya know, I would hate to look back in ten years and go: I wish I would have done that.” So I told myself, I’ll do it once, and if it works out, great. And I’ll just listen to myself and if I keep wanting to do it then I’ll keep doing it. I found my niche, and I was lucky enough to do so and I’m loving it every single time. I go through that roller coaster of…one minute you’re excited, the next minute you’re scared, the next you’re like “Ahhh this is okay, I’m mellow now”, then you get so nervous that you get nauseous…and I still do…every fight, scared to death…and I just love it. And not many people would like that.

FF: What would you like to say to Beth?

MB: Thank you. Thank you very much for coming in to Colorado and stepping in the cage with me. I appreciate it and hopefully I can learn from you and you from me and hopefully we can be friends after we battle it out.