[We open backstage at the Barclays Center, where Isaac Cohen’s standing beside Sadie Williams, who looks like she’s just finished her weight in–fortunately for the former Everest Champion, she doesn’t have much weight to cut to make Lightweight, so she’s not nearly as miserable as one might expect from someone who just had to weigh in. In fact, Sadie’s beaming a smile to the camera as Isaac introduces the interview.]
ISAAC COHEN: “Ladies and gentlemen, Isaac Cohen here, backstage at the Barclays Center ahead of Union GP 47, joined by Sadie Williams, who faces Erick Costa this weekend in a Lightweight matchup between the #2 and #3 ranked fighters–potentially paving the way for a shot at the newly re-unified champion, 2Face Rodriguez. Sadie, thank you for taking the time to join me.”
SADIE WILLIAMS: “Yeah, absolutely!”
ISAAC COHEN: “Before we get to Erick and the ramifications this fight could have on the Lightweight Division, I want to go back to Boss Fight 44–you and Maddox Moon put on a competitive grappling display, and ultimately you got the unanimous nod, but it wasn’t without some…questions being asked, what do you make of all that, is that…is that something you think about at all?”
[Sadie shakes her head negatively, just smiling as the mic’s tilted toward her.]
SADIE WILLIAMS: “I’m not a judge, I don’t ever want to be a judge, and honestly, I try not to think about how the judging goes, whether it goes for me or against me. That’s a great way to sound bitter for the rest of your career, if you’re mad at every judging decision you don’t agree with; no, I go out there and try to do what I can to just be the better fighter, and I guess they thought I did that against Maddox, but I gotta give him credit, I’ve never had someone flow with me like he did. He’s a really impressive fighter, he did a lot to keep me in check, that fight, but…yeah, I’m obviously happy to get the win, happy to keep that streak going, but that’s about as far as I think about the questions about judging.”
ISAAC COHEN: “That makes 5 wins out of your last six, dating back to the start of Everest Season 3, with the only slip being the draw against Masami Rose, and that’s led you to this weekend’s fight against Erick Costa, which could determine the next challenger for 2Face Rodriguez, unless a rematch between him and Paige Holloway is booked; is that on your mind at all, knowing you’re that high in the rankings?”
SADIE WILLIAMS: “I don’t know if I’d say I think about my spot in the rankings; obviously, the whole goal is to be the champion, right? Like, if that’s not your goal, why are you fighting? But I don’t really think about, like…oh, I’m #3, I can’t take a fight with an unranked fighter or whatever, I’ll fight whoever they put in front of me. It doesn’t change anything for me, me being at #3, Erick being at #2, that doesn’t suddenly make this a more…I guess daunting matchup for me, it just means I can get where I wanna be with a win. That’s…a pretty good way of thinking about this game, I’ll get where I wanna be if I keep winning.”
ISAAC COHEN: “I want to touch on something my colleague Kayla Chapman mentioned in our predictions article–Erick Costa hasn’t treated grapplers particularly well in his last few fights; he’s won 3 of his last 4, all those wins over grapplers. A split decision win over Ray Rogers, followed by finishes of D’Ante Jackson and Catherine Harris, sandwiching the only defeat to the now-champion 2Face. At least with recent history, this feels like a matchup that…doesn’t exactly favor you, how do you feel about that?”
SADIE WILLIAMS: “I think the thing about that is, you could break down a lot of stats like that; historically, I’ve fared pretty well against strikers, but that doesn’t change that…just as an example, one mistake against Abbie back in AWC turned the whole tide of that fight against me. “
[The AWC Featherweight tournament isn’t the happiest memory for Sadie, but nonetheless she finds herself with a bit of a laugh as she thinks about it, shrugging her shoulders and moving on quickly.]
SADIE WILLIAMS: “As far as Erick goes, I guess I didn’t look that close at his record, I didn’t realize that was all back to back to back like that, but…yanno, I like Cat, I like D’Ante, but they’re not the same kind of fighter I am. I mean, we’re all grapplers, sure, but what they do and what I do…it’s not the same, I’m a different kind of grappler than I think Erick’s ever faced. Like, I’ve gone back and watched most of his fights–I think it’s fair to see he struggled with Ray Rogers, and…yanno, I think I’m better at what I do than Ray Rogers is, I’d say that’s a better comparison than Cat or D’ante are, but…I know MMA math never really works like that.”
ISAAC COHEN: “One last question, then I’ll let you go–the general consensus is that Paige Holloway earned herself a rematch against 2Face Rodriguez with her win over Abbie Peterson in Washington, DC; if that proves to be true, and you come out of this weekend with your hand raised, do you want another fight in the meantime, or would you wait for that title shot that…seems like it’ll be on the line in this fight?”
SADIE WILLIAMS: “That’s…a lot of speculation all at once.”
[Sadie laughs a little bit, shaking her head.]
SADIE WILLIAMS: “But I guess that would depend on how long before Paige and 2Face were fighting; like, more than anything else, I want to be the champion, but if we’re talking, like…6 months, if it’s not gonna be til December before they fight each other, then yeah, put me in there with someone else in the meantime. I don’t want that much downtime, I don’t wanna just sit on my hands and wait like that, I’d rather get in there and prove I deserve it. But if we’re just talking a couple months, I’m…I’m pretty good to wait, in that case.”
ISAAC COHEN: “Fair enough.”
[Isaac smiles at Sadie as, for the first time in the interview, he really turns his attention to her, rather than the camera.]
ISAAC COHEN: “Well, Sadie, I know catching you right after your weigh-in isn’t ideal, so thank you so much for making time for me, and best of luck this weekend.”
SADIE WILLIAMS: “Thank you, take care.”
[Sadie flashes a peace sign to the camera before the interview cuts to black.]