MANILA, Philippines – Fil-Am mixed martial arts fighter and former WBO/IBA female superbantamweight champion Ana Julaton will unveil a new “Hurricane” when she takes on Russia’s Irina Mazepa in a scheduled three-round bout on the ONE Championship “Spirit of Champions” bill at the Mall of Asia (MOA) Arena tonight.
Julaton, 35, is making her fourth appearance in the cage, third at the MOA Arena where she is unbeaten. She said fans will witness a different Julaton in action, molded after a grueling camp with wrestling coach Ricky Lundell, striking mentor Angelo Reyes and strength/conditioning guru David Gavic for over a year.
“I’m ready for anyone,” said Julaton who flew in from Las Vegas last week. “Ricky is a phenomenal grappling coach and he’s turned me on to the art of grappling. As a boxer, I’m trained to live and die with my fists. But now, as a mixed martial arts fighter, I live and die with my grappling, the ability to pummel, take down an opponent and battle on the ground. The transformation wasn’t easy. In boxing, you’re preoccupied with promoters and you focus on punching, footwork, finding your safety zones in the ring and staying away from danger zones. In MMA, there’s no let-up, no clinching to catch your breath. You’re constantly in your opponent’s face or hers in yours. There are no egos in MMA. It’s a humbling experience to learn what you need to win in the cage. If you train in MMA, you’re overtrained for boxing.”
Julaton said fans who witnessed her previous MMA bouts are in for a surprise because they won’t recognize her style. “My training comes from within,” she said. “I didn’t train specifically for Irina. That’s because in MMA, last minute changes of opponents aren’t rare. Irina made a name for herself by knocking out Ann Osman with one punch. But I wasn’t impressed. Ann came out of a break with her hands down and Irina made her pay the price. If you leave yourself open for a clean punch, you’ll get knocked out, too. Ann was on her way to victory when she got caught.”
Osman tainted Julaton’s MMA record with a loss by split decision last year. “I’m not Osman,” said Julaton. “If Irina thinks she can take care of me like Osman, she’s mistaken. I wobbled Osman with a jab and I honestly thought I won the fight. I’ve called her out for a rematch but she’s avoiding me. For Irina, I’ll definitely be aggressive. What has come out in social media is videos of my striking technique. I’ve made sure there’s nothing out on my grappling ability. That element of surprise will be my advantage.”
Reyes, who will work Julaton’s corner with Gavic tonight, said MMA is totally different from boxing. “In boxing, there are limits to what you can do but in MMA, you can do almost anything except gouge or fishhook,” he said. “In boxing, you get three minutes a round and a minute of rest in between rounds. In MMA, it’s five minutes a round and the distance is three rounds. There’s a high demand for upper body strength in MMA because you’re exposed to takedowns, kicks, knees and elbows. If you don’t engage in MMA, you get a yellow card and if you persist, it’s a red card with a percentage of your purse withheld. In scoring a boxing bout, judges do it round by round on a 10-point must system. In MMA, the judges simply choose the winner after three rounds on the basis of cage control, better striking, near submission or knockout, defense, extent of damage inflicted and overall skills. When Ana fought Osman, I thought Ana won. She wobbled Osman with a jab while Ana was never hurt. I was shocked that the judges gave decision to Osman.”
Julaton said the mindset of an MMA fighter is different. The focus is not just on physical training but also mental toughness. Julaton said when she wakes up in the morning, all she thinks about is how to become faster, more explosive and how to endure the gauntlet of pain. Reyes said MMA fighting is “punishing.”
“When they close the cage and lock it, there’s a psychological meaning to that,” said Reyes. “It means you’re on your own. You can even use the wire around the cage to your advantage by pinning your opponent against it or leaning on it for leverage. There’s never been a doubt about Ana’s striking ability. Now, fans will see her grappling, doing things she never did before until Ricky came along.”
Gavic, the founder of Hybrid Performance in Las Vegas, said Julaton’s work ethic is unbelievable. “She’s a warrior,” said Gavic. “She’s very intelligent and works hard like crazy. She’s a high-caliber athlete and world champion boxer. I’ve trained some UFC female fighters and they’re like little girls compared to Ana. There’s nobody out there in MMA who works harder.”
Julaton said in Las Vegas, she trained four days a week with Lundell to improve her ground game. She’s not giving Mazepa a chance to win. “Irina is a powerful striker,” she said. “To see what she did to Osman in Malaysia in front of a sold-out hometown crowd was spectacular and proved Mazepa can fight and has no pressure on the visitor. But even when she won the fight, my heart didn’t skip a beat. I know that she’s strong, she’s experienced in the stand-up style but I also know that she’s limited in certain areas.”
Lundell, who begged off from accompanying Julaton here to concentrate on training UFC welterweight Carlos Condit in his Jan. 2 fight against Robbie Lawler in Las Vegas, said the new Julaton is unstoppable. “I don’t think her opponent knows what’s coming because what they saw a year ago is not what they’re going to see now,” said Lundell. “The quickness to the shots, the ability to take somebody down, the control aspect as well as being able to land submissions and ground-and-pound. I mean now, Ana is an entirely different fighter, it’s not just a boxer out there that has a little bit of understanding of the ground. This is a world-class boxer who’s been working on world-class takedowns and submission abilities so this is going to be a different fight. It’s going to be exciting to watch this come into fruition finally.”