By Mike Pisano…

FF: You’re fighting Heather Sachleben, we’re all excited for this one and we know you are too because we follow you a little bit on Facebook.

MB: Yeah, I totally am!

FF: How did this fight materialize for you?

MB: Steve (Alley) has actually brought her name up several times in the past. But it’s never really come to be. I think that Steve has maybe taken an interest in her, like to get her into his promotion, and maybe I’m just a good venue for that. I don’t know. It might just be a good matchup too.

FF: We definitely think it will be a good matchup. In fact, your fight against Shannon Culpepper, it seemed like that scenario you just described: just two people to fight, or basically an opponent…for Shannon really. That’s how it felt. But, since then we’ve seen your skills sharpen as you’ve put together some wins.

MB: I appreciate that. With the Shannon fight, I was slated to fight her previously but I had an injury and I wasn’t able to follow through. I kind of knew going into our second scheduled fight which was the one that you saw, that I was the “one to lose” that fight. I mean, she had size on me and confidence for sure. So I kind of knew going into that one that I wasn’t going to do well (laughs).  But I’d already backed out once before so there was a little pride thing that was the reason that I stepped in with her. But this weight class, 125, is going to be better for me.

FF: Have you seen Heather fight?

MB: I watched her fight against Raquel Pennington on YouTube. She seems to be an aggressive fighter and she seems to protect herself really well. I actually didn’t see any holes to pick apart.

FF: That was a very good fight and Heather seemed very disappointed in herself when she got caught in a choke…

MB: Riiiiggghht…

FF:  Talk a little bit about Fight Syndicate and how you seem to have become ultra-motivated over the past year.

MB: Well, I’m super excited about Fight Syndicate. The gym that I was a part of was actually slated to close down. Nobody was coming, nobody was paying dues, and my husband asked me if I could take over and actually focus on women. So I went ahead and I did that. The primary focus initially was just to do a women’s cardio conditioning for women that didn’t want to fight but wanted to work like fighters and it has blossomed into something huge! We’ve got such a good energy down there and we’ve got people that want to come in and fight for the sport sake of it rather than the macho, competitive, “I can kick your ass!” aspect that you see in fight gyms sometimes. We don’t have that. We’ve just got a bunch of really positive people that want to build each other up so that everyone gets better and we grow as a team. It’s got a life of its own and I’m super impressed with what’s happened and by no means take credit for it. It’s the result of the people that have chosen to come to the gym. We’re strong believers in building people up and not knocking people down. You can see that when you come in.

FF: Any plans to take the team regional?

MB: No. I don’t think so. I think we’re good in our little cubby of the world. We like to cross train at other gyms. We’ve spent some time at Fuseboxe and we’ve had Michael Sullivan and Maureen Riordan up here for seminar. We’ve brought in Little Patricia Vidonic for seminar and we’ve also stopped in to her gym to train. We really enjoy networking and cross training with other gyms. But we’re good in our little cubby.

FF: Cool. What’s it like to be a fighter, who seems very career minded, fighting out of Wyoming?

MB: Yeah, I actually run like three businesses so I’m always looking into the future and where something is going to go and how it’s going to grow and what are the specific steps we need to take to get there. I kind of tell myself that I’m only fighting right now to promote my gym but in the back of my head I know that’s bullshit, that I just like to fight. I’d sure like to grow the girls, and the guys too-we’ve got a lot of guys on the team too, that are interested in fighting and taking them where they want to go and make sure that they get the fights that will put them there.

FF: Anyone in the 125 division that you would like to match-up with for the same reasons you want to fight Heather?

MB: Well, there’s number three ranked amateur Tasha Fourstar that I’m fighting in an all-girls card in great falls Montana at the end of April which I’m really looking forward to.

FF: Sweet! We’ll have to catch up with you when that one approaches. How did you get involved with Steve originally?

MB:Through local shows he was involved in the gym that I was going to and I got in that way. My debut fight was against Michelle Blalock. I was pretty temped to just not fight anymore after that but Steve has a way of encouraging fighters to keep trying and then matching them more appropriately after he’s seen what they can do.

FF: Do you want to talk about your training or anything like that?

MB: Well this specific fight camp that I’ve got going on right now, Allen Sosa has stepped in and is running my conditioning classes so that I can train and he’s running my fight camp. He’s brought in a lot of fresh blood to help me out with my fight camp. Ken Scott, who trained me for my fight with Ashley Villasana has spent a lot of time working with me too so I actually feel like for this specific fight I’m actually getting more training than I have in the past. So I’m super excited to see how that works out.

FF: I take it you’re well prepared. Do you have a strategy against Heather?

MB: I don’t. She seems to be a stand-up fighter. I have no doubt that she’s probably awesome on the ground and I’m not going to take anything for granted but I sure like going all three rounds and I like keeping it standing up.

FF: Okay. That’s all we’ve got. Is there anything that I haven’t touched on that you want to get out there?

MB: Should I mention that my sponsors are Uppercutsnews and Altitude printing ?

FF: Sure….Thank you so much Margaret. We’ll see you at your fight and best of luck!

MB: Great, thanks. It was good to talk to you!