An Old MMAnews.com Interview

[Phoenix]

Thanks for the audio. I can't download the file though. The first time I went to download it, nothing happened for 10 minutes, so I tried it again, and it told me that I've used my limit for a free user. That sucks... Any other way I could get it?

[Phoenix]

Thanks Bastiaan! It worked! Busy listening to the interview right now! You're a star! 

[Dante2230]

yeah thanks

[Phoenix]

There's so many text interviews (that aren't available on audio at all), and I think instead of opening a new thread (we don't want millions of topics within a week, LOL), maybe we should post them here? What you guys think?

[Phoenix]

Okay, here's another one from onthemat.com - 07.11.07
Author: Marlene Castaneda

Marlene: So Gina you’re riding the wave of transitioning from Mauy Thai to MMA, how is that working out for you?

Gina: It’s working out very well. I come form a different world then most of the MMA girls that come from jiu jitsu. My Muay Thai is working really well for me, but I know I have a lot to learn in the MMA world. I joined Team Couture in Las Vegas and I plan in that being a step forward in my career.

Marlene: I know you train with Master Toddy and he is known for taking the time to get to know his fighters on a very personal level. Can you elaborate more on the close relationship between you and him?

Gina: Master Toddy is my mentor! He brought me into this sport and I have ultimate respect for him. I think he is one of the best men in my life, he is fantastic, he is a genius in Muay Thai and in fighting and I can’t say enough good things about him, he’s like a Dad to me! He keeps all his fighters really close like that.

Marlene: I know you actually got involved in training with Master Toddy due to your ex boyfriend. If we can we ask, what is it like training and sparring with him now that you two aren’t dating?

Gina: Well he’s definitely my ex, but he is also my best friend. He tells me the truth when I’m doing good or if I’m letting it slack or whatever. I got good people around me, I’m very blessed.

Marlene: Can you elaborate more on your first meeting with Master Toddy and his statements regarding your weight? Were you in shock that he stated you were a little “chubby”?

Gina: (laughs) Yeah, I know he was like “Oh no baby, baby you fat, you need to lose weight!” but I mean anybody else in my life can tell me I was getting chubby and I wouldn’t pay any attention to them, but when its done honestly and real I was like “You know what? He’s right. Let’s get into shape!” So, I appreciate honesty and when its real, and I’ll listen, you know.

Marlene: So now that you’re on Team Couture, what are you focusing your training on specifically, the jiu jitsu or the wrestling part of MMA?

Gina: I’m working with Randy, he is a big wrestler mostly, but he’s also awesome at MMA and I think he’s gonna kinda round my game from Muay Thai to the unexpected, no one expects me to take anybody down, nobody expects me to be cool on the ground and I think that the element of surprise is gonna open up my striking a lot more. I’m still going to do my Muay Thai at Master Toddy’s but just being around such good people is the most inspiring thing. When you’ve got your head straight and your heart straight it all starts to come together like you wouldn’t believe. It’s going to work out, I now it is, I’ve got complete faith in it!

Marlene: You’re coming from a Muay Thai background, and you mentioned you tend to fight a lot of Jiu Jitsu based fighters, how confident are you in your striking when you encounter a woman that is primarily a grappler?

Gina: Confidence is obviously a key to fighting and knowing that you’re the best, but I don’t underestimate anybody at the same time and I’m not gonna say that jiu jitus girls don’t have power behind their hands. I don’t take anybody lightly and I’m just going to focus on what I can do. I know I have the best trainers around me so I’m just going to focus on that.

Marlene: What’s next for you Gina, any scheduled fights?

Gina: I think the next show is in September, but I hope it’s sooner than that, I got that fighter itch! After I got healthy, I’m like “I wanna go kick something!” you know. But everything happens for a reason I believe, so maybe this is just a waiting period and then I’ll be a completely different fighter by the time September comes around.

Marlene: Thanks you so much for you time, is there anything you’d like to add for on themat.com?

Gina: I would like to thank everybody for being so completely real and honest and giving me love. Nobody really knows me and they’ve just been showing me so much love and support. That’s what females in the sport are going to need in order to get bigger, we’re gonna work our way up just like the guys did!

[Colobus]

Hey thanks for that Never read this one before.

[Phoenix]

Written by Naoki Fukuda   
Saturday, 27 January 2007

Can you tell us about your childhood, background?
I grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada.  My mom raised us with horses on the outskirts of Vegas, where we got into small rodeo's and competitions and my dad came in town every other weekend, where we stayed with him at hotels and went to all the shows.  Excalibur, Night at the Round Table was very popular for us when we were kids..haha  My parents are amazing people who worked well together after the divorce to ensure that us kids came first and were raised properly.

What kind of sport did you practise before Martial arts?
I have always been an athletic person.  It started off in dance classes then moved into gymnastics and from there into sports such as basketball, volleyball, and softball throughout my high school career. I love to snowboard in Lake Tahoe and wake board during the summer.   I got offers to play basketball and softball in college but my family was going through a crisis at the time and I wanted to stay close to home so that I could help.  So I went to the colleges in Nevada, University of Nevada, Reno my first year and University of Nevada Las Vegas for the next three years.

I am majoring in Psychology but for the last two years I have had to put school aside because of the amazing opportunities that have opened up for me in fighting. I have two wonderful, beautiful sisters, one older and one younger who were incredibly talented athletes also. My youngest sister is actually studying abroad in Spain at the moment.

I have always been a little tom boy growing up, beating all the boys in wrestling and always getting into trouble and it wasn't even until I was 20 that I realized people were starting to call me attractive.  It doesn't matter to me, I will always see myself as the little twelve year old with braces or the 16 year old with bruises all over her legs from sports or the now 24 year old fighter and loving every second of it.   I have had three wonderful opportunities to go to Thailand.  I fought and won twice and the third time I was  invited to go to the Bangkok film festival to promote an independent film called, "RING GIRLS" where four other girls and myself were filmed from Las Vegas all the way to Thailand.  All of us having two fights each and none which were staged, all the fights were real.  The last time I went to Thailand we also filmed a reality TV show called, "FIGHT GIRLS" which aired on the Oxygen channel.  It  was more of a competition between seven girls competing for the chance to go to Thailand to fight. I was a mentor under Master Toddy who helped him decide who would go. All of these experiences were amazing and some of the most enlightening experiences I have had.  We actually stopped in Tokyo, Japan on our way back from Thailand where we had a press conference of doing a possible fight promotion there with all of us girls but it never took fruition.  Hopefully it will someday because I absolutely loved it there for the short amount of time we spent and I would love to return.

When and why you started training to fight?
I started training in Muay Thai around 3 years ago and started fighting 6 months after that.  Since then it has taken over my life.  Why I started fighting?  I believe it was my destiny as cheesy as that sounds.  My family hit a five year hard time involving my older sister and drug abuse causing me to give up going to play sports in college.  I don't mind talking about it now because thank God she is doing very well and is since an inspiration in my life.  I believe certain things have happened for a reason and even though I didn't go play sports in college, I enjoy Muay Thai much more than any sport I have ever played.  It has done so much for me as a person and if it all ended tomorrow I wouldn't regret a second of it.  Plus for some reason I used to get into fights outside the ring when I was younger because the biggest, meanest girl at a bar or wherever we were at would usually try to bully me or one of my friends over and I never backed down.  Since I've started fighting it has taught me a lot about self respect, self confidence and self control.

I don't want to fill up the whole space, so you can continue reading it (it's quite long) here:
http://www.mat-magazine.com/mat/content/view/2471/20/

[Dante2230]

i've read that inteview b4 i like it