...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By: Frank Hyden, MMAtorch contributor
On June 25, Jessica Aguilar will fight Carla Esparza at Bellator 46, her first fight with Bellator since losing a controversial split decision to Zoila Frausto (now Zoila Gurgel) in the women's 115 lb. tournament. Earlier this week Aguilar took time out of her very busy schedule to answer some questions posed to her by MMATorch's Frank Hyden ahead of the fight.
Frank Hyden: On March 11, 2011 Japan was struck by an enormous earthquake and tsunami. You were in Japan preparing to compete at a Jewels MMA event when the earthquake struck. What were your feelings as this was happening, and the aftermath?
Jessica Aguilar: I have been heartbroken – until you live through and see this level of devastation you can never comprehend all of the pain and suffering. I only wish I was in a position to do so much more for those who have suffered losses in Japan. My experience in Japan was nothing less than first rate, by way of culture we in the USA have so much to learn in terms of treating others with respect and honor. These are just incredible people, with huge hearts, and demonstrate so much honor to their sport. I still follow everything I can in Japan, stay in touch with friends there and am always working hard on the relief fundraising work. Thank you for asking.
Hyden: At Bellator 31, you were involved in a very controversial decision loss to Zoila Frausto. Many observers thought you had the fight won, with one judge giving you a 30-27 score. Yet somehow, two of the judges gave Frausto scores of 30-27. What was your reaction when you heard the scores given by those two judges?
Aguilar: We have all seen some bizarre to completely outrageous MMA scoring; unfortunately I just happen to be involved in one of these incidents. Yes, to this day strangers, fight experts and everyone in between still approach me and share, that my landed strike count was four & five to one greater, that I literally chased her around the ring for three rounds, that I inflicted incredibly physical damage on her, that it should have been 30-27 on all 3 judges' cards... I can only say thank you for all that saw what I saw and experienced that night. Others tell me stories how the cage referee and announcer challenged the results prior to reading them as they too were convinced there was a mistake, no different than expressions from my opponent who obviously felt the same way? But I was brought up in a special way, just do your best and live with the results others have of you, in the end this will be the best path. As hard as it was that night, the only thing I could say to the announcer was to let me apologize to all fans as it was my fault for letting this go to the judges, a mistake that will never happen again!
Hyden: At Bellator 46 you're scheduled to face Carla Esparza. What are your thoughts on her as a fighter, and how do you think the fight will go?
Aguilar: I have great respect for Carla, she is a true professional, she is tough and always shows up well prepared. I also give her a lot of credit for her early striking success with Megumi Fujii, who is just an incredible talent. I think Carla and I will have a perfect opportunity to show MMA fans just how good women's MMA has become. I think the fight will be a tough one, and I am real pleased that I am coming into this fight stronger, faster, and with improved striking and submission skills than I have for any fight in my career. And I am sure Carla has prepared equally well – should be a great fight!
Hyden: You train with male UFC and Bellator fighters on a consistant basis. Do you feel that has accelerated your growth as a fighter?
Aguilar: Words cannot begin to describe how much my fighting skills have and continue to develop. Unlike many others, my teammates treat and train with me on a total earned respect level. They expect me to match skill, speed and power and never cut me any slack. Their support and respect allows me to overcome all those others in my training world that do not provide the same level of support or respect. While many thought I did a great job in last year's Bellator fights, I personally know that my fight game is now at a much higher level. I am ready to let all know just how far women's MMA has come in such a short period.
Hyden: What do you like to do in your free time, if you have any?
Aguilar: I wish I had any down time – non-hard core training time is spent trying to get support [of] sponsors, find new sponsors, and to provide private training lessons – anything that will help me self-fund my own training costs. My fight purse and local sponsorships do not come close to actually paying for my training costs, every month I need to find ways to earn additional income to pay for gasoline, groceries, and training costs.
Hyden: Do you feel that athletes and celebrities have a responsibility to be role models?
Aguilar: Absolutely, and I take that responsibility very seriously on a personal level. If MMA fighters want to earn mainstream sponsors we all need to be role models. [It's no] accident that Georges St. Pierre has had success in this area, as he is a great champ and an incredible role model. I do all I can to be the best role model I can be, Up until the Bellator tournament I was teaching a daily kids class in my gym, and just loved the interactions with the kids and their parents, and was incredibly disappointed when I lost that job because they needed someone with perfect attendance and my pro fight schedule caused me to adjust my schedule prior to fights. Really wished that my own gym would have been more supportive on items like that, especially knowing how much the minimal income meant to me. I guess the good lord must just have thought that I would become even stronger with some added challenges put into my life. The good news is that is exactly what has happened!
Hyden: What gets under your skin?
Aguilar: Tough topic for me, as I work real hard to put all negatives out of my thought process so I can focus on positive items. But since you asked – nothing bugs me more than women's MMA not getting its due level of respect. Sure the women's side of the sport does not have the depth of talent at this time as the men's side, but we are improving and adding talent every day. This topic really gets under my skin when those in my own gym are blatantly disrespectful, and at times even go out of their way to withhold support or opportunities, just because they do not feel there should be any women in MMA as fighters, judges, managers, trainers or in any capacity beyond being a fan. Here I am killing myself to earn a world title, constantly promoting my gym at every turn, been enormously loyal, and then see some being real disrespectful for no real reason. Luckily, my training teammates and direct trainers have allowed me to earn their respect and truly treat me as a peer, this alone all but makes up for the others who go out of their way to be disrespectful.
Hyden: Some people are reluctant to watch two women fight, especially if it involves blood. What do you say to those people?
Aguilar: First I would respect anyone's personal opinions, as some people can't bring themselves to watch or be a fan of any combat sport. But out of the true MMA fan base which is growing in record numbers, I only ask that you treat woman's MMA the same as any other MMA fight. Regardless of gender, there are good and bad fighters, there are fighters at all different skill levels from dedicated young amateurs who show huge potential on up to the best of the best top ranked fighters in the world. I only ask that any fan please judge based upon skill & performance as all else should be the same regardless of gender.
Hyden: Do you feel added pressure to be an exciting fighter, given how some dismiss female MMA as inferior to male MMA?
Aguilar: Of course – every time I step into a cage – nothing else counts but how I perform at that exact moment – I better have the best performance of my life or else I might disappoint, something I never want to have happen. For me, I am a four time International Gold Medalist grappler for team USA, hence my ground game is pretty solid, yet I know MMA fans love to see great stand up fighting. So in my last fight with Zoila where everyone was so impressed with her stand up/boxing skills, something I train incredibly hard at (and over the past few years Howard Davis Jr. – Olympic Gold Medalist, Chuck Liddell’s striking coach, UFC Ultimate Fighter stand up coach, and former American Top Team coach has spent a lot of time bringing my stand up game to hugely improved levels) – so I decided I would attack Zoila's most highly rated strength – and the strike counts and obvious physical damage showed that I clearly had the best stand up game that night against what many regard as one of the best standup fighters in the MMA world today. So to directly respond – yes I have a lot of performance pressure – and I feed off of it – the more pressure the better as I have the ability to turn that pressure into pure adrenaline with very controlled precision.
Hyden: Who do you look up to as a fighter, and as a person?
Aguilar: The toughest question of the day... Just so many great fighters, and my mind goes to those who have paved the way starting from earlier days with Royce Gracie, submission specialist like Megumi Fujii today, ultimate professional class acts who have helped to bring main stream sponsors and marketers to the sport like Georges St. Pierre, personal teammates like Mike Brown and Jeff Monson who have dedicated their lives to the sport and yet constantly give back to all others at every possible turn – just have to love guys who out worked others to reach success then gave back to everyone along the way. WOW – I want to be like them and always help and respect others.
Now let’s get real serious about this question – If I could be like anyone in life and be more like them it would be my Mom. In my life, my work habits are pale to hers, her heart is bigger than anyone I have ever known, her generosity, love for others, and ability to deal with horrific adversities all while always being the best person she can be in life a real WOW!!!!!! No one motivated me more in life than my own MOM!!!!
I would like to thank Jessica for taking time out of her insanely busy schedule to answer these questions. To illustrate the time and dedication Jessica shows in her training and work here is an excerpt from a blog written by ericag at www.onthemat.com detailing a typical training day for Jessica. The whole blog can be found here http://www.onthemat.com/blogs-posts/womens-mma-insiders-view
Typical training day
1. South Miami Sports Performance (SMPC)
a. 8am to 9:30AM Juan Carlos Faraldo pushes power training between fights on up to 8+ weeks out from a fight via very tailored & precise power lifting and custom tailored strength conditioning to target specific sets of muscle groups
b. 9:30 to 10:30 AM focus is on long endurance conditioning training targeting the equivalent of ten 5 minute MMA rounds – twice what is needed for a 5 round MMA title fight
c. 10:30 to 11:30 AM – focus is on balance, equilibrium, muscular toning, spatial orientation and coordinated eye movement- pure speed & mental processing reaction time training
Note: as Jessica’s next fight is just weeks away – she is inside of her 8 week to fight time count down, and long endurance & pure power training is replaced with “Explosive Speed” training – as everything is now planned and calculated for Jessica to reach new personal peak conditioning on fight day. All aspects of Jessica’s training, diet, scheduling, etc. are laser focused on nothing but her next fight – there is always a master plan – one that every member of Team “JAG” participates in and contributes too.
2. ATT main gym
a. 12:30 to 2:30pm Pure fight training with her pro MMA male fighter teammates - No holds barred – full speed – as Jessica intentionally opts to train with pro UFC, WEC, Bellator experienced fighters that all on average outweigh her by 30+ pounds – this is all about pushing herself to new limits – it’s all about being self driven to reach new levels of success. In this space, Jessica is blessed with one-on –one teammates that fully respect and support her – this provides for an inner sanctum of focus that helps to block out others that do not respect or believe in her within her own gym environment.
3. Personal time
a. 2:30 to 5PM – Personal time that is usually dedicated to giving private lessons, back fill as an instructor, or any other part time income producing work – Jessica will be the 1st to tell you that you need to accept an oath of poverty to make it as an MMA fighter. Sure a few big names make big bucks, but this is not the case for all others. The single hardest part of being a full time pro MMA fighter is learning to live a lifestyle where training expenses far exceed fight purse income – and basic necessities such as gas money to drive to training sessions and basic food purchases become a monumental challenge to survival. This is where sponsor support can make or break a fighter’s career.
4. Palm Beach Boxing –
a. 6 – 9PM – time to get together with Jessica’s lead coach - Marcos “Parrumpinha” Da Matta’s – where she can focus on skill development, and the creation & implementation of a specific fight plan that “Parrumpinha” has devised for Jessica, the same as he does for all of his other UFC, Bellator, Dream, Sengoku and various other venue fighters.
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
Interested in joining MMATorch's writing team? Send idea for a theme to your column (for Specialist section) or area of interest (i.e. TV Reporter) along with a sample of writing to mmatorch@gmail.com.
