We wrote this story about women’s bantamweight title challenger Liz Carmouche, who fights champion Ronda Rousey in the main event Saturday at UFC 157 at the Honda Center in Anaheim.
Here are some quotes from Carmouche that didn’t make it into the story:
ON DEALING WITH THE INCREASED MEDIA AND PRESSURE:
I’m able to manage it. I’m really enjoying getting a chance to meet new people and to interact and that’s really I think what’s getting me through this. I think it might be overwhelming if I wasn’t making connections and getting to know each person that I get to interview with.
ON THE LACK OF TRASH-TALKING BETWEEN HER AND ROUSEY:
I really feel like we both understand where we’ve come from. I respect the fact she’s the current champion and she was the Strikeforce champion and I respect everything she’s done in this sport. And there are things she’s doing to help make the sport grow for women’s MMA. And she’s the reason it’s in the UFC. But it takes two to tango and I think she knows that and respects my approach and understands where I’m coming from and that’s not my personality. I’m not a trash-talker. I’m not gonna engage, and in all honesty you’re not gonna be able to get in my head if you really want to.
ON HER UNPREDICTABLE FIGHTING STYLE:
It just happens. I never plan to do some crazy stuff. I’ll have these dreams where I’ll just wander off and thought about, “Oh, I’m gonna do this craziness! I’m gonna jump off her shoulders and then spin her back and do this!” but I never really think that’s gonna happen. … Some of it I control and half the time it’s just my body going on auto-drive doing its own thing.
ON BEING FROM SAN DIEGO AND THE FIGHT BEING IN ANAHEIM:
I can’t even really put numbers on how many people are gonna come up for this fight. I’ve had so many friends and family and people that go to the gym say that they’re gonna come out. If we were open Saturday night at my gym, nobody would be there because everybody’s either at somebody’s house watching on pay-per-view or they’re making the trip all the way from San Diego to Anaheim to see me in person.
ON HEADLINING UFC 157 OVER DAN HENDERSON VS. LYOTO MACHIDA:
You know, it came as a shock to me too when I found out. “You’re gonna be in a UFC fight, you’re gonna be fighting Ronda.” I thought OK, maybe we’ll be on the undercard or preliminaries instead of headlining. I have so much respect for Machida and for Henderson and I’m fans of both of them as athletes, so it’s kinda awkward for me to be headlining over them. And I don’t wanna take anything away from them because I do respect them so much. But I’m also grateful for this situation and being able to be that person and be in that position and I’m not gonna downplay that at all.
