Maureen Riordan will be making her MMA debut this weekend at

Kick Down 94 Pride and Glory. She started training for the overall wellness benefits of exercise. A
bodybuilder friend suggested that do a figure competition and she began weight
lifting. But for cardio, she basically couldn’t stand the tread mill. So she
took up kickboxing for cardio, found Fusboxe (where she trains now) and
completely fell in love with MMA. She has been grappling in tournaments for
some time now and just competed in a Thai fight. FIGHTFAN spoke with Riordan
recently about her fight this weekend, her career, and her future.

FF:
So, it’s fight week for your cage debut, butterflies or pure excitement?

MR: I
think it’s pure excitement right now. I’ve had so many fights fall through, I
think I’ve had seven different opponents back out or miss weight and it’s been
such an emotional roller coaster that now I just refuse to get too nervous
because there’s just no need for it. I actually got the point where I quit
looking at my opponent too much because, and I know it happens to the guys too,
but it seems like with the women it happens a lot where your opponent changes
constantly. So you get one opponent you start preparing for and it changes
three weeks later anyhow.

FF:
So how did you get this fight?

MR:
Steve Alley (Kick Down) is one of the promoters that’s really advocating for
women and he has been trying to find me an opponent that won’t fall through. I
actually ran into him at the last Rocky Mountain Bad Boyz fight and he pulled
me aside and said he was keeping an eye out for me. So this weekend I will
finally be fighting (Britney Elkin).

FF:
So we can assume you don’t know too much about Britney either?

MR:
There are some things we’ve heard. I think she’s 2-0. I think she might prefer
to grapple, but just because two fights went to the ground doesn’t necessarily
mean she prefers to grapple. That’s another reason why, unless they have a lot
of fights I don’t really look much into them because you can’t judge too much
off of three to six rounds, you know?

FF:
That makes sense. Coming out of Fusboxe, do you rely mostly on Sambo?

MR:
Well, I think my Thai fight was a really good step for me because prior to that
I did all grappling. I’m a seven time gold medalist, I took first in the nation,
and so I loved the grappling so much that I really focused on that for probably
the first year. The Thai fight forced me to improve my striking as well. I
think after that I really don’t have a preference; I’m just as excited to stand
and bang it out as I am to go to the ground and choke her out (laughs).

FF:
I admire the fact that you’ve been able to stay in shape and stick to your
training even though so many things have fallen through. Hopefully from here on
out things will go a little smoother for you.

MR:
Thank you…me to! I think I’ve been in camp since December 5^th.

FF:
I’ve seen you train once. Maybe just describe your camp a little…

MR:
Well, I think everybody’s probably excited about their team and their coaches
but, I’m thrilled. We have the strongest female team. Shannon Culpepper, Raquel
Pennington and I went out there with the name Sambo Angels (it started because
we were joking around about Charlie’s Angels and I think MMA Meltdown suggested
Sambo Angels) and we kinda do everything around that. It’s all really well
rounded. Shannon Culpepper corners me along with Michael Sullivan (coach) and
any time Raquel can be there I have her too. We rely pretty heavily on each
other.

FF:
What would you like to do after this fight?

MR: I
actually have another fight scheduled with Rocky Mountain Bad Boyz for August
12^th against Sherry Payne and then in September there is a big
national grappling tournament out in Vegas and I plan to fly out there and
compete in that.

FF:
How long do you want to fight amateur?

MR: I
don’t want to go pro too soon. We’re always going to grow and add new things to
our game and I feel like there is so much I can still do to get better even
prior to my fight in August. But I’d like to fight on all the main promotions here
in town. I’d like to fight in Ring of Fire. So we’ll see. It’s definitely a
goal of mine. This is definitely what I want with my life.

FF:
So do you see yourself fighting in Bellator or…

MR: I
would LOVE to go on to that or Strikeforce. Gosh, I would love that, to be at
the end of my life and look back and say that I did that. You know, tell my
kids and tell my grandkids. A big thing for me is I had never done anything
athletic prior to this in my life except for maybe rec soccer when I was seven.
(laughs)  So, I spent a lot of time
hearing people tell me I wasn’t athletic, I wasn’t capable, I was never going
to be able to do anything like this. And I like to be able to turn around and
show people that just because you haven’t
done anything like
this before doesn’t mean you can’t. It’s important for me to take this as far
as I can so that I can show anybody that’s willing to see, that you can do
whatever you want to if you have the heart for it.

FF:
What do you do in life besides train and fight?

MR: A
lot! I’m a massage therapist; I own my own business in that. I’m a bookkeeper,
I have a couple clients that I do contract work for, I’m a single mom of two
boys…I also write. I write fiction but I’m starting to write articles and I’d
like to start doing seminars and motivational speaking as well so that I can
make a name for myself outside of just fighting. I love trail running, rock
climbing…anything that’s outdoors you can talk me into doing or at least trying
once! (laughs)

FF:
(laughing)…This has been fun. I’m definitely looking forward to your fight this
weekend. Is there anyone you want to mention?

MR:
Definitely Michael Sullivan. Vic Bravo our boxing coach at Fus and the Sambo
Angels, Raquel Pennington, Shannon Culpepper…also Garrett Culpepper. He and
Shannon have been like brother and sister to me. They have been amazing
training partners and friends. And my whole team at Fusboxe…they’re
irreplaceable to me and they’re my family I couldn’t do it without them. Then
of course my boys…and my parents have been an amazing help to me with my kids
and a strong support source for me.

FF:
Maureen, thank you so much for taking some time with us. We’ll look for you on
August 12th.

MR:
Thank you.