Rosi Sexton is widely-regarded as the number one 125 pounder in womens MMA worldwide and has been fighting professionally since the very early days of MMA in the UK. The anti-thesis of what many would imagine a “cagefighter” to be like: She is a mother and an academic as well as a professional athlete. It’s fair to say she has been trampling all over MMA stereotypes since first stepping into a cage back in 2002.
She was kind enough to give us an interview whilst juggling her hectic schedule of sitting her final Osteopathy exams and finishing up her camp for her next fight and we had a chat about her fight camp leading into this event, her views on womens MMA today and what the future might hold for one of the UK’s best pound-for-pound professional MMA fighters.
Rosi, thanks for sparing the time to talk to us whilst you are busy preparing for your Bellator 23 fight next week. How are things?
Things are good! I’ve just arrived in Louisville for my fight. My weight is on track, and I’m feeling great.
It is well documented that you are no longer part of SBG, so who have you been training with for this fight and how has the camp been?
My main MMA coaches are Pete Irving and Paul McVeigh. They’ve put a lot of time and energy into coaching over the last year and have done great things with my game. I’m a vastly better fighter now than I was a year ago. I’ve also been training Muay Thai with Paul Tite from Stockport Fighters and wrestling with Billy Cooper. Ollie Richardson from www.fighterstrength.com handles my strength and conditioning program. Nathan Leverton from Leicester Shootfighters has also been generous with his time and knowledge.
My team I train with in Manchester have been great. Gaz Pilot has helped me a lot, especially on my jiu jitsu. I started out coaching him for some of his MMA fights, but these days he teaches me more than I teach him. I’ve also got some of the best female MMA fighters in the UK training with me – you’re going to see a lot more from them over the next year!
Paul Rimmer, Danny Withington and all the lads at Next Generation Liverpool have also really helped me out with training, padwork and sparring sessions.
Training for the fight has been challenging. I’ve just finished doing final exams for my osteopathy degree, so trying to juggle the two things hasn’t been easy, but I think everything’s just come together at the right time.
Your opponent for this fight Zoila Frausto. She has the majority of her wins via decision and has only lost once against Miesha Tate so she’s a tough cookie. What’s the gameplan for this fight?
I don’t think it’s any secret that my greatest strength is my grappling. This is a pretty classic striker vs grappler match up, and I see it going to the ground fairly early on. Zoila’s tough, strong, and she’s got some nice looking striking but unless she’s changed her game beyond recognition in the last two months, I think she’s going to struggle with my takedowns.
MMA Junkie are reporting that this is at a catchweight of 121lbs. Is this kind of a tester in preparation for you getting down to 115lbs for the Bellator womens tournament?
Yes, originally we wanted this fight to be at 115 as preparation for the tournament, but Bellator had trouble finding an opponent at that weight. This will be the first time I’ve fought at 120, and honestly I think it’s my best weight class.
There are some great fighters in the tournament that have been officially announced so far: Lisa Ward, the undefeated Jessica Pene, Angela Magana, Lynn Alvarez and the woman who is widely regarded as the p4p number 1 female fighter in the world Megumi Fuji. So this was too good an opportunity to miss right? Is the dream to get the chance to face off against “MegaMegu”?
It’s a great lineup – probably the best any organization has put together in any women’s weight class. I think there are a lot of great potential fights for me in that tournament, Megumi among them. Fujii has some great skills, and she’s got a very strong reputation, but she’s not been tested against the quality of opposition we’re seeing here. I don’t think she’s as untouchable as many seem to believe.
You were due to fight at Cagewarriors comeback show last month, but contractual issues put paid to that. Are you disappointed you couldn’t fight in the UK and are we likely to see you on home shores any time soon?
I’d really been looking forward to fighting in the UK, as my last fight here was five years ago. I’ve been bugging Ian and Tony at Warrior Promotions (my management) to get me something over here for ages now. I’m hoping that it might be possible next year.
Obviously from a male perspective MMA is blowing up in the UK and we have a lot of guys making names for themselves on the big shows. MMA is almost on the verge of being pretty much accepted and is appearing more and more on mainstream TV. Do you think there is the same level of acceptance for womens MMA?
I think women’s MMA has made big progress in the last few years. Understandably it doesn’t have the same profile as the men’s divisions, but people I speak to in the sport are generally really supportive.
What do you say to people who say MMA is “too violent for women”.
I’m not sure. Nobody’s ever said that to my face.
You have been flying the flag for womens MMA in the UK pretty much solo for a while now, what do you think of the Womens MMA scene in the UK? Who are the up and comers that we should look out for?
There are some really talented women coming through now. I’ve got some great women training with me – Sarah Moras is from Canada but she’s been in the UK for nearly a year now, and just had her first pro fight on the Cagewarriors card. I think she can go a long way. Elena Dmitrieva had a great debut earlier this year, and I’ve got a couple of others who are looking to fight soon.
Kat Gallagher who fights out of Paul McVeigh’s Dinky Ninjas is definitely one to watch for the future. There’s also Lisa Higo who’s an old training partner of mine – I know she’s had a couple of injury issues recently but it would be great to see her back in action soon. Emma Watson from Leeds Cage has a lot of potential and had a big win in Finland recently, and I’ve also been hearing good things about Simona from Kayo MMA in London.
For a woman to come into a male dominated gym – probably with an all-male coaching staff – when she knows nothing about MMA and is faced with “rolling around on the floor” with sweaty men she doesn’t know, that’s a pretty intimidating thing. What would your advice be to women who want to get into MMA?
I don’t think it’s for everyone. You have to have a certain kind of temperament to do this sport – I think that’s true for men as well as women. But if it’s what you want to do then go for it. Make sure you find a good gym with good coaches and sparring partners, where they’ll take you seriously. If you’re prepared to put the work in, then at most places you’ll do ok.
Do you think there is a problem in that some trainers just don’t know how to coach women and make them feel comfortable in the gym environment and that’s why there aren’t too many female fighters coming through? Should coaching women be any different from coaching men?
There might be something in that. I think good coaches will do well whether they’re training men or women.
Honestly though, I think size is more relevant for training than gender. Training with people who are a lot bigger and stronger than you is ok occasionally, but if that’s all you’re doing then you end up with a lot of bad habits. That’s why having sparring partners of a similar size and level is important.
One problem that womens MMA faces (in my opinion), is negativity from the fan perspective. I’ve read on a few message boards comments that womens MMA is horrible to watch and it’s only redeeming feature is that the women are “hot”. Obviously this only a small subset of fans saying this, but never-the-less the opinion is out there. Have you noticed and been affected by this at all?
I think reality is what you pay attention to and I don’t tend to focus too much on that kind of comment. It generally says more about the insecurity of the person making it. Why would someone go to so much trouble to tell the world they’re totally uninterested in something? It makes no sense.
I’m glad of the opportunities I’ve had in this sport, and grateful to the fans who’ve made that possible. I also get a lot of messages from people who’ve enjoyed watching my fights, or have been inspired by what I do. That’s what I prefer to focus on.
MMA has had a long association with glamour girls. “Cage Babes” feature on many MMA websites and magazines, you have scantily clad ring-girls at every event and fighters like Gina Carano becoming much more famous for their looks than their fighting ability. Do you think all this stops women being taken seriously as fighters?
Honestly, I don’t know – and it’s another thing I don’t worry about too much. I think women’s MMA is better served by me spending my time putting on good fights and promoting the sport, rather than debating the merits of ring girls.
Do you think the UFC will ever have a womens division?
Probably not. I think the WEC would be a better place for a women’s division in any case, if Zuffa were interested in going down that route. The problem now is that most of the top women are already signed by other organizations, so I don’t see it happening.
You have done a lot of mainstream TV shows, radio and newspaper interviews in this country – more so than many of the male fighters! What is the question you get asked the most when you do these appearances and what is your answer?
Probably “how did you get involved in MMA”. For the answer – check out every other interview out there!
You have done an awful lot in MMA since you burst onto the domestic scene 8 or so years ago. You are the ONLY UK fighter to achieve world #1 status (male or female). What goals do you have left in MMA?
For me, MMA was always about seeing how good I can be. I don’t think I’ve got there yet – in fact, I think I’ve seen some of my biggest technical improvements over the last year. Bellator’s tournament will be a great challenge.
When you are done fighting, will you remain involved in MMA? Can we expect to see you coaching a lot more and possibly even opening a gym of your own?
I think I’ll always be involved in MMA in one way or another. I’d like to give more time to the coaching side of things, and once I’m qualified as an osteopath one of my plans is to work more with combat athletes.
Rosi, we have kept you long enough so I’d like to wrap up by wishing you all the best for you fight next week and for the womens tournament in August. Before we let you go, is there anyone you’d like to thank and any shout-outs you wish to make?
All my coaches, training partners, friends and family who’ve helped me out and supported me training for this fight.
Ian and Tony at Warrior Promotions who do a great job of managing me.
My sponsors, especially PhD nutrition who’ve supported me for the last few years now.
Rosi, it’s been a pleasure. Thanks for talking to us!
Rosi is fighting Zoila Frausto at the Bellator 23 event, this coming thursday (24th June). She has her own blog at http://RosiSexton.WordPress.com where you can keep up to date with the latest developments in her career. For media, sponsorship and fight enquiries you should contact her management team: Ian Dean (Ian.Dean(at)Cagewarriors.com ) or Tony McDonagh (Tony.Mac(at)cagewarriors.com)
