26 C
Willemstad
• donderdag 28 maart 2024

Extra | Journaal 26 maart 2024

Elke werkdag het laatste nieuws van Extra, nu ook in het Nederlands. Bron: Extra

Democracy now! | Monday, March 25, 2024

Democracy Now! is a national, daily, independent, award-winning news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez. Democracy Now!’s War and Peace Report provides our audience...

Extra | Journaal 25 maart 2024

Elke werkdag het laatste nieuws van Extra, nu ook in het Nederlands. Bron: Extra

Democracy now! | Friday, March 22, 2024

Democracy Now! is a national, daily, independent, award-winning news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez. Democracy Now!’s War and Peace Report provides our audience...

Extra | Journaal 22 maart 2024

Elke werkdag het laatste nieuws van Extra, nu ook in het Nederlands. Bron: Extra

Democracy now! | Thursday, March 21, 2024

Democracy Now! is a national, daily, independent, award-winning news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez. Democracy Now!’s War and Peace Report provides our audience...
- Advertisement -spot_img

DN | Jemyma Betrian patiently waiting for her time in the UFC

HomeMediaDN | Jemyma Betrian patiently waiting for her time in the UFC
Jemyma Betrian
Muay Thai world champion Jemyma Betrian, 23, is ready for her second professional MMA bout Saturday at Gladiator Challenge at Sycuan Casino in El Cajon, Calif. (Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer)

Just one week after the UFC crowned its first women’s strawweight champion, another 115-pounder waits in the wings. Jemyma Betrian has the striking, evidenced by her several Muay Thai world championships.

She has the experience in her corner, with Glendale Fighting Club’s Edmond Tarverdyan overseeing her transition to MMA.

Most of all, Betrian has the patience.

So while the 23-year-old Curacaoan native has more than 40 fights and several title belts on her resume, she bides her time in her new sport, taking on Catalina Madril on Saturday night on the undercard at Gladiator Challenge at Sycuan Casino in El Cajon, Calif.

“I live for the day. I’m focused now on Saturday and I leave everything in God’s hands,” said Betrian, who has a 35-2-1 Muay Thai record and hasn’t lost a fight since she was 16 in 2007.

“I believe in God and I don’t live in 2015 already. I’m still in 2014 and I want to focus on that. And when the time is there, I will be there.”

The future to which Betrian is referring is what is expected to be a bright career fighting among the best in MMA.

Jemyma Betrian, seen training at Glendale Fighting Club in Glendale, has not lost a fight since she was 16 in 2007. (Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer)
Jemyma Betrian, seen training at Glendale Fighting Club in Glendale, has not lost a fight since she was 16 in 2007. (Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer)

The UFC just launched its women’s strawweight division via its reality show, “The Ultimate Fighter,” with 16 fighters battling through a tournament for a shot at the belt. On Dec. 12, a champion was finally crowned when Torrance native Carla Esparza overwhelmed Rose Namajunas for a third-round submission victory via rear-naked choke.

Betrian said she feels she belongs in the UFC, only her MMA experience holding her back, yet she remains humble about how she’d fit in with the rest of the UFC 115-pounders.

“I cannot say a lot about them because they are already there. I’m just like ‘Give me the time,’” said Betrian, who won her pro MMA debut in August with a 47-second knockout of Hadley Griffith at Chaos at the Casino 5 at Hollywood Park Casino.

“And I want to learn, and when the time is good, I will be there and I will do all my best to compete.”
Advertisement

Anyone who has seen Betrian fight will attest to what she can do. At 5-foot-5, Betrian is a buzzsaw in the ring, a flurry of punches with purpose and devastating kicks.

Tarverdyan, with his years of working with boxing world champions and UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, says he’s a believer.

And Betrian’s biggest attribute might be her attitude.

“This girl goes for it and she fights every second of the round. She’s a fighter. She’s a great champion and an exciting fighter,” Tarverdyan said. “I was impressed with her skills, but after having someone like Ronda in the gym, you know, it’s not the first for me. It’s something that I’ve seen and witnessed.

“I grew a fighter from zero, which was Ronda, and got her to the level she is right now. So I wasn’t surprised really with Jemyma’s skills, but she’s awesome. I love that a girl could fight at that level and she does.”

In Rousey, Tarverdyan took an Olympic judo bronze medalist and honed her striking. After eight victories via armbar submissions, Rousey’s past two victories have been via knees or punches.

With Betrian, the striking is there. Five of her past eight Muay Thai victories have been by knockout. It’s the groundwork that needed work.

Betrian has been consumed with wrestling, training five days a week on grappling and takedown defense under the tutelage of Martin Berberyan, a former world-class wrestler and three-time Olympian for Armenia.

“Jemyma is an exception because what a high-level striker she is. She’s someone who’s going to be extra special,” Tarverdyan said. “So that extra time, all the coaches understand they have to put into her. It’s time consuming, you know. It’s like an investment basically, but it’s worth it. She’s something unique and special.”

If Betrian wrestles on a Monday night, she’s back at it again Tuesday morning. A Wednesday night session means a Thursday morning turnaround.

But Betrian is on board. She said the first few weeks were challenging until she stopped overthinking it.

After all, anything can happen in the cage. She just has to be ready for it.

“Sometimes in the fight, it can happen so fast and you maybe go to the ground, but I don’t want to go to the ground, of course,” she said. “But it can happen. Like a knockout happens in one second, a takedown can happen in one second also.”

Betrian rates her wrestling as a 6 — “maybe a 6 1/2,” she said with a laugh — out of 10, but Tarverdyan says he’s seen more from her six months of training than from people with three or four years on the mat.

After Betrian gets past Madril, an Oceanside fighter who has lost all four of her Gladiator Challenge bouts, Tarverdyan wants one more fight for her in early 2015. Then he anticipates the UFC might come calling.

Betrian says she’s game, but there is no hurry.

“I don’t want to rush. I just want to prove that I can be there with those girls,” Betrian said. “Those girls are like, they are my level. Maybe I am higher? But I cannot say anything about that now. Because I did not prove myself yet.

“But I think I belong there.

Bron: Dailynews

Dit artikel is geplaatst in

Geef een reactie

Vul alstublieft uw commentaar in!
Vul hier uw naam in

Zoeken

Recente reacties