2013 was a monumental time for women’s mixed martial arts. After years of being told that they “just weren’t good enough” and that there “wasn’t enough girls to form a legitimate division”, women finally graced…
2013 was a monumental time for women’s mixed martial arts. After years of being told that they “just weren’t good enough” and that there “wasn’t enough girls to form a legitimate division”, women finally graced the UFC’s famed Octagon and blew everyone away in the process.
At the forefront, we had women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. Rousey’s dramatic blend of an Olympic level judo background, an “easy on the eyes” physique and an appetite for snapping arms enthralled UFC president Dana White.
But it didn’t stop with Rousey.
White witnessed a surge of elite female talent such as Cat Zingano, Alexis Davis and Liz Carmouche break the UFC’s walls down and captivate his audience in ways that completely exceeded his own expectations.
The UFC shouldn’t get all the praise, however, as the hard-hitting ladies of Shannon Knapp’s Invicta Fighting Championship once again proved in 2013 that women come to fight, sometimes more so than their male counterparts.
Knapp and co. opened the year in January crowning Carla Esparza as the inaugural strawweight champion and finished in December with an all-out war between Barb Honchak and Leslie Smith that had fans on the edge of their seats the entire time.
I’d like to recognize those who truly stood out and made this such a great year. Here are the 2013 Women’s MMA awards.
From an elite fitness model to a seven-time WWE Women’s champion to a world-renowned Yoga instructor to an up-and-coming actress, Trish Stratus truly is a master of all domains. This bad-ass Canadian bombshell has even traveled across the globe t…
From an elite fitness model to a seven-time WWE Women’s champion to a world-renowned Yoga instructor to an up-and-coming actress, Trish Stratus truly is a master of all domains.
This bad-ass Canadian bombshell has even traveled across the globe to train in Thailand with the famed Muay Thai instructor, Peng Fairtex (Srichai Chanphen) and has a professional Muay Thai fight under her impressive resume.
Recently Stratus ventured into the world of action films with her lead role in the movie, “Bounty Hunters.”
Jules Taylor, played by Stratus, is part of a team of mercenaries that struggle to make ends meet and undergo various battles in an all-out war for survival.
I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Ms. Stratus about the film, her take on the sport of MMA, WrestleMania 28 and much more.
Here’s what the legendary diva had to say:
On her lead role in “Bounty Hunters”
“[My character, Jules Taylor and I] are definitely alike because we are both strong-ass kicking females in a male-dominated world. In the movie, my character was surrounded by men and all of these Bounty Hunters, but she went out there and did her job and handled business,” Stratus said.
“The dialogue wasn’t too different from what I would actually say, either. It was just a great choice for me as my first foray into films.”
“You know your audience and I talked with Steve Austin about this when we were both doing Tough Enough, he was on his second DVD at the time and was starting to do more movies,” Stratus said.
“He told me ‘you’ve got to know your audience, because when you are in tune with their needs, you will be able to give them what they want.’ That’s something that we obviously did in professional wrestling and it carried over into this film.”
“As far as when we did the fight scenes, we had a great fight choreographer on the set and he was very protective in the sense that he would go ‘okay, this is your fighting style’ which mine was Krav Maga and my co-star came from a martial arts background, so he made sure we stayed consistent with our styles.”
“However, I knew that my audience would love to see some Stratusfaction and he totally understood that. It was a forefront to bring that out and to do a little shout-out to all of my fans watching.”
On MMA
“I got into MMA from watching Brock [Lesnar] compete and at first I was just watching one of my colleagues come into a new business, but after checking the sport out more, it definitely piqued my interest,” Stratus said.
“When I had my Muay-Thai fight, I literally thought that I might do this. For a good minute there I thought that I might train and start competing as an MMA fighter and that it was something that I could pursue, but then I realized that I didn’t want to get my face bashed in.”
“After doing my film, I started to look more into Gina Carano’s career because I know that she did a movie, and people are taking note of how well she was able to transition into the filming world [from MMA],”
“I can certainly attest to being a real fighter and doing action scenes, because we know what it feels like to be punched in the face or kicked in the head, and that is why we can both bring that realism into a fight scene.”
On Favorite storylines
“My first instinct when we talk about storylines always points to the Chris Jericho and Christian love-triangle because that was so storyline-driven and different from most storylines out there. It was one of the first feuds that featured a male and a female, so it was very storyline-driven,” Stratus said.
“It was about eight months long and it created so many cool moments. We had the chance to do a lot of inter-gender matches and the key element for me was my heel turn. We were water cooler talk for many months, so I’m really proud of that storyline.”
“Chris and I were very hands-on with the development of it, we were talking with the writers and Vince [McMahon] every week, and it definitely showed that we put a lot into the development of it.”
“The ongoing storyline between Lita and me was always a great go-to because no matter what point of my career I was in, we could always go to each other and create amazing moments,” Stratus said.
“Another one of my favorite storylines was with Mickie James because back then the women’s division was a very solid division and we tore the roof off with our match at WrestleMania 22. People were so vocal during that match that it really showed how invested they were in the storyline.”
On WrestleMania 28, Rock vs. Cena
“At this point, I will be watching WrestleMania at home just like the rest of the world. However, things change and you never know. I’m really looking forward to this card, I think Rock-Cena will be quite epic and I think we are going to get that same energy we got with Rock-Hogan back at the Sky Dome at WrestleMania 18.”
“One of the reasons why feuds such as Rock-Austin and me vs. Lita worked so well is because we are so different. This is the case with Rock and Cena because they have different personas and different energies, so it’s so interesting to see the two of them at work,” Stratus said.
“Cena has developed so much from where he was back in the day, and the way he is hanging with The Rock is truly making him a bona fide superstar. Not to say that he wasn’t before, but when you see him hanging with The Rock on the microphone, it is a huge deal.”
For more information on Trish Stratus and how to order your very own copy of “Bounty Hunters,” check out TrishStratus.com and follow Trish on Twitter @ trishstratuscom
Mitchell Ciccarelli is the sexiest writer in all of MMA. A Jedi master by day, writer by evening and lover by night, Ciccarelli is a featured columnist for B/R MMA and a lead writer for Rebellion Media. Follow this gorgeous rocker on Twitter @ mitchciccarelli
From an elite fitness model to a seven-time WWE Women’s champion to a world-renowned Yoga instructor to an up-and-coming actress, Trish Stratus truly is a master of all domains.