June 18 2016 was my first MMA fight. I have been involved in martial arts for about 12 years now, albeit with some large time off to go to College and do other sports. But this fight was something long over due and I finally got my chance. And won.

My opponent had one previous fight and some grappling tournaments under her belt. I knew she wanted to take this on the ground as was not concerned. I have a lot of ground game and I know my strengths. But we all get nervous. I was more nervous about being nervous. I have high anxiety and new that it would affect my performance. But I stayed confident all the up to the fight and obviously after.

The one time I finally got nervous on fight day was when I actually was put in the cage. Right when Danielle was in there and it became real finally. Everything I thought it would be like was different, and you go from thinking of it as sparring to thinking of it as you have to survive.

The fight went all three rounds as I knew it would. And I ended up getting a lot of dominate positions and just punching her a lot. Lots of ground and pound and some clinch against the cage with knees. Most of it was a blur, and surprisingly I was not that tired in between rounds. Thankfully I had an amazing team at my corner. Including my boyfriend there to make me laugh and keep me centered.

This post has been hard to write since I really can’t think of how I felt before or during this. I was in training mode and had no time to be nervous or worry. I was confident in my skills so I wasn’t worried there. But the biggest memory I have is just being there with my oldest fight team. People that have known me and trained me since I was 16. Having my family and friends and coworkers there added to the excitement. I mostly wanted to finish so I could kiss my boyfriend, hug my family, and get ready to watch my boyfriend fight and win as well.

August 27th is my next fight. Just looking for an Opponent, but training as hard as ever.