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Meet the woman who will end up fighting Cris Cyborg in Strikeforce on June 26th
By Zach Arnold | May 19, 2010
Jan Finney, who has the unenviable task of facing Cris Cyborg on June 26th in San Jose for Strikeforce, did an interview with Fightergirls (their web site is here) and talked about how she got the fight booking and what her upcoming preparation is.
Erin Toughill was originally scheduled to take on Cyborg, but she told Strikeforce that she needed some time off and was granted it. Finney, who lost to Toughill a little over a year ago, will be Cyborg’s opponent.
On the Sportsgeek radio show, Finney explained what happened in her fight against Toughill.
It was taken on last-minute notice, I didn’t have any training camp, it was like two weeks, maybe two-and-a-half weeks to get ready and you know I had been training but not like fight-training, a different attitude there but definitely I learned a lot. I mean, she’s a hard-hitter, she’s good all-around and you know just go right at her and you know it wasn’t exactly the outcome I wanted but I did learn from that loss and I’m going to take it from there.”
As for how the fight booking with Cyborg came about, Jan indicated that there didn’t seem to be too many takers.
“I have an amazing manager, I don’t know? He was on them and asking like ‘who’s going to fight Cyborg?’ and I don’t know if they really had that many people in line or what but he was on them and on them and I guess perseverance prevailed and I got this awesome opportunity, so that’s just kind of how it happened. Actually I was training like I was going to fight for Shayna (Baszler) and then this happened, so you, just switched gears and here were are.”
The fight will take place at 145 pounds and Finney normally fights at 135 pounds, but she doesn’t see it as a big problem.
“I think actually it might, it might actually really work to my advantage because I’m not really going to have to worry about cutting weight. Like right now I’m sitting about seven pounds out, so it’s the least of my worries. All I have to really do is focus on training, you know, instead of worrying ‘oh my gosh, I got to make weight and you know can I go five rounds you know cutting 15 pounds’ where I’m probably to have to cut maybe 5 pounds, so I look at it as a good thing, you know.”
She tried her best to make the case on the radio show that the upcoming fight against Cyborg will not be a squash match.
“I’m going for the title right now so I mean usually when people fight the best it brings out the best in you so it’s going to be a good one.”
“I’ve been fighting like pretty much almost every two months since October so I’m ready, I mean, each time I feel like I’m getting a little more momentum. I know she’s tough… but I’m a competitor, I’m going to give her my best.”
“Oh, it’s so much easier to be the underdog than to be the person on top. … It’s easy to make your way up the ranks than to stay up there. It’s hard to keep that level of motivation and everything all the time.”
Jan is currently looking for sponsors. You can contact her on MySpace and she will forward any requests to her manager.
UFC craziness
Rogers Sportnet has a depressing report about the politics of Vancouver and how UFC 115 could essentially be a one-and-done situation for major MMA in the city due to insurance and red-tape from regulatory matters.
Count me out as someone who is interested in the tit-for-tat between Rampage Jackson and Rashad Evans on the UFC conference call yesterday, but you can read this Sherdog article if you are interested on the cliff notes. I’m interested in the fight itself, I’m interested in the strategy and training heading into the fight, but I’m completely bored and not exactly nonplussed by the childish taunting between the two. Naturally, the broadsheet media is running hard with quotes from the conference call. OK, I guess.
Other news & notes
After not booking him for WEC’s first PPV on April 24th at Arco Arena in Sacramento, Zuffa has cut ties with ring announcer Joe Martinez.
Stephan Quadros has a quick preview of this Friday’s Showtime event with Matt Lindland vs. Kevin Casey.
The Vallejo Times-Herald has an article on Mark Munoz entering the California Wrestling Hall of Fame.
UFC Lightweight champion Frankie Edgar will host a wrestling seminar and autograph session at a fundraiser at Toms River High School East on Saturday.
Bas Rutten has some thoughts on Alistair Overeem.
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, WEC, Zach Arnold | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Another undersized opponent for Cyborg? They should have this girl fight Kaufmann.
I think Zuffa wanted Martinez to put the WEC as his #1 and Golden Boy as his #2. And he didn’t want to do that. I can understand both sides. I thought he was decent but hardly a huge loss.
Finney has guts but she is going to get squashed.
Also, wtf is up with Toughill needing “time off”? Has she given a reason for this? Is she injured? Is there a family reason? Or did she just wanna go on vacation or something rather than fight Cyborg?
The plans were for Erin to do this fight but there is a long complicated explanation about why she isn’t doing it. The short version is that Strikeforce has had notorious communications issues with several fighters. She is supposed to fight this summer and then fight Cyborg in the fall.
Also, you probably don’t know that Jan Finney was scheduled to fight Shayna Bazsler in the final of the FCF 135lb tournament on June 10. The winner gets a Strikeforce contract. Jan has jumped the queue and Adrienne Jenkins will fill in.