ONE ON ONE FT. SADIE WILLIAMS
[We open to a swanky little hotel lobby, at a table off near the wall to avoid getting in anyone’s way. On one side of the table, sits the ever dapper Kayla Chapman, trying to rubbing her breakfast in on her guest–a, frankly, miserable looking Sadie Williams, clearly in the middle of her weight cut, and who is more than happy to give Kayla a playful side-eye at the fact that she’s eating in front of someone cutting weight. There’s a moment of laughter from both women, Sadie shaking her head in playful disappointment before the interview actually kicks off.]
KAYLA CHAPMAN: “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome, welcome, welcome to another One-on-One interview ahead of Union GP 72, our annual Title Wave, this weekend! Joining me, for better and worse, this morning, is the Lightweight Champion of the World, Sadie Williams!”
[Sadie gives a joking bow to the camera, complete with that blue-blood roll of her wrist as if the Canadian has any kind of formal appearance at the moment.]
KAYLA CHAPMAN: “Sadie, thank you so much for joining me, I know I’m…”
SADIE WILLIAMS: “Making me hungry? Taunting me with a waffle?”
[Kayla, to mess with her a little more, takes a long, slow bite of her waffle, leaving Sadie with her mouth hung open. Kayla bursts into laughter before pushing the plate away.]
KAYLA CHAPMAN: “No, but seriously. Obviously, I caught you in the hardest part of the week, so really, thank you so much for giving me a bit of your time.”
SADIE WILLIAMS: “Yeah, of course! Always a pleasure.”
KAYLA CHAPMAN: “And I guess there’s no better place to start than the end of your last fight–and how, frankly, I think I can speak for the entire world when I say we all thought you were out after that…that powerbomb Marcela slammed you with–talk me thru that, how did you manage to keep your wits, let alone keep that triangle situated?”
SADIE WILLIAMS: “Would you believe me if I said instinct?”
KAYLA CHAPMAN: “Honestly? At this point, yeah.”
[Sadie shrugs a shoulder and smirks a little.]
SADIE WILLIAMS: “Don’t get it twisted, I could tell from the first second of that fight that Marcela was strong. But I had no idea she was that strong, least of all that late in the fight. I think we talked about this, I don’t remember off hand, but in a lot of her fights, she’s kind of…tapered off toward the end, the second fight against Trevor Martin in particular you could see it. I figured…an extra round, when she already burns herself out in 3 round fights? I didn’t think I was in any danger, until I was five feet in the air all of a sudden.”
KAYLA CHAPMAN: “And releasing the choke was just…not in the cards, I guess?”
SADIE WILLIAMS: “Would you let a good opportunity go?”
[Kayla nods–kinda frantically.]
KAYLA CHAPMAN: “Yes. I don’t want to get spiked on my head, though. There’s a reason I hold the microphone and don’t put gloves on.”
SADIE WILLIAMS: “Fair enough. But, to go back to your question–go watch the end of the fight. Go watch the clip again, watch how hard I’m breathing when the fight gets stopped. You’ve watched damn near every fight I’ve had in my professional career, how do I usually react when I win?”
KAYLA CHAPMAN: “Um…running across the cage, backflips off the railing, and screaming into the ether?”
SADIE WILLIAMS: “Annnd…after that fight?”
KAYLA CHAPMAN: “Well, we all thought you were unconscious, so…”
[Sadie just nods a little bit.]
SADIE WILLIAMS: “That wasn’t just cuz of how hard that fight was. That was cuz I was trying to get any air at all. The actual end of the fight, I have…no memory of it, the fact that I managed to tighten the choke is just…I dunno, a small miracle? I have no memory of the adjustments I made to keep it, I have no memory of her going out, I remember getting slammed, and then a couple minutes later, I’m on my feet getting my hand raised.”
KAYLA CHAPMAN: “Oh. Wow, um…is everything okay, no concussion or major injury or anything?”
SADIE WILLIAMS: “Yeah, I’m fine. Just…yanno sometimes that adrenaline surge, things just happen and you gotta piece it together later? It’s more like that.”
KAYLA CHAPMAN: “Ah! Okay, well. That’s good, at least. But…that win put you back in a familiar position: fresh off a defense of the Lightweight Championship, and now staring down a fight with Benji Meyers. And obviously, we can’t talk about this fight, without talking about the last one…”
[Sadie wrinkles her nose a little, but doesn’t interrupt.]
KAYLA CHAPMAN: “You’ve been pretty clear in the past about how frustrating that fight was for you, does a rematch give you something…extra to strive for?”
SADIE WILLIAMS: “Um…yeah, I mean, I wanna be clear–I’m sure I’ve said this before but in case I haven’t, I don’t mean any hate toward Benji when I say stuff like that. It’s not frustrating because I don’t think he’s a talented fighter, he is. He’s got a kind of wild style that I really appreciate, actually; if he weren’t in my division, he’d be one of my favourite fighters to watch. So it’s not about that, it’s frustrating because you get to the top, and unfortunately there’s nowhere to go but down. It’s just a matter of when. Look at all the longtime champions in Union history: Dallas, Gianna, Delaney, Derrius, Roscoe, Rozier…I’m sure they’ll all tell you the same thing, it’s not about who beat them, it’s about getting beat in the first place. So for me…I mean, obviously, I want to get my hand raised this weekend, but it’s not necessarily about a revenge thing or anything like that. It’s just…I let my guard down in our last fight, and Benji took advantage of it. I shoulda been better than that, and…that’s the goal this week, be better than that.”
KAYLA CHAPMAN: “There’s gotta be something satisfying about the possibility of…I guess, getting that win back, though?”
SADIE WILLIAMS: “Sure, to some extent. You never want to lose, and there’s always that hope to get a chance to redeem the losses you do take. So that’s a thing. But honestly, it’s not a big motivator for me; I want to be the best. If that means fighting Benji again, cool; if that means Laws, or Marcela, or 2Face gets another crack, cool. The who isn’t that important for me, it’s the what–I want to make the point I feel like I let slip last time, and be the standard that all of 155 has to step up and measure up to from here on.”
KAYLA CHAPMAN: “You’ve talked in the past about wanting to prove you’re a more well-rounded fighter; considering your last fight with Marcela, and how…especially for your style of fight, how relatively little time that fight was spent on the mat, do you think you’re getting more comfortable establishing yourself as the kind of fighter you want to be?”
SADIE WILLIAMS: “Mm. I think a lot of people hear that and still think I’m the same one-dimensional fighter that I was in Everest, that can’t compete on my feet. That I’m still stuck in that…that early part of my career, diving for takedowns and hoping. When I fought Jordan, he made that assumption–I don’t remember exactly what he said, but it was something like a title fight not being the time to improve. I disagree–if you’re not improving every fight, you’re stagnating. I’m…ten times the fighter I was just a couple years ago, and I like to think that every time I step out there, I’m a little bit better, a little bit more refined. Obviously, everyone pretty much knows where I like my fights to go, but if you’re still assuming I need them to hit the mat these days, you’re in for a nasty surprise. And, to bring it back around to this weekend, Benji’s a hell of a litmus test for where I’m at with it. I landed a lot against him last time, but…I dunno how much of it really mattered in the bigger scheme of things; this weekend, aiming for improvements.”
KAYLA CHAPMAN: “It seems like you…pretty much know what to expect with Benji, at this point…”
SADIE WILLIAMS: “I dunno if I’d go that far.”
[Kayla smirks a bit.]
KAYLA CHAPMAN: “Okay, there’s enough tape on him to know what his style is–but, trying to get that win that you couldn’t get last time against him, what adjustments have you made going into this fight?”
[Sadie just…stares at Kayla for a second, then raises her hands up in a boxing guard.]
SADIE WILLIAMS: “Hands up, chin down, head covered?”
[She laughs a little and leans back in her seat, folding one foot under her leg like a triangle frame.]
SADIE WILLIAMS: “No, but seriously? I don’t think Benji’s even close to the same fighter he was…god, what was that, was it really only a year and change ago? But look at the fights he’s had in that time–he handled Catherine Harris’s attack pretty solidly, two close fights with Jordan, surviving 2Face’s attack…if you go thru all that and haven’t evolved any, you’re doing something wrong. Like…the advantages he has on me don’t really go away, I didn’t suddenly grow a foot and negate the reach advantage or anything like that, but I brought a few people into camp that were able to mimic aspects of Benji’s style and work to recognize those moments where he has to show his hand. And, like…Benji’s tough to mimic, it’s not like any one person really fights the way he fights, so it’s not always the easiest thing to get a feel for, but I’m feeling sharper than before; this camp had me noticing some of those openings I used to leave, focused on making sure I don’t give him that opportunity like I did last time, and…yeah, overall, I’m feeling good, I’m feeling confident. Last time, I got to two defenses before I got beat for this belt–this time, I want to go way beyond that. Benji’s a hell of a fighter, I know he’s gonna push me, but…like I said earlier, I wanna be the standard for 155–not just right now, but from now on. I know Delaney’s records are gonna be hard to beat, but…hey, a girl’s gotta have goals, right?”
[Sadie smirks a little, as Kayla gets a small laugh out of the burst of optimism from the Canadian.]
KAYLA CHAPMAN: “Absolutely! Well, I know the next couple days are gonna be busy for you, I know you’re probably just suffering, staring at my waffle, so I’ll let you go. Thank you so much for the time, Sadie.”
SADIE WILLIAMS: “Absolutely, anytime.”
[Sadie flashes a peace sign to the camera, before getting up from her seat and disappearing as the video cuts.]
