[We open up in the nosebleed seats in the Arena Guadalajara, the arena almost entirely empty except for a handful of people: a few crew members putting the cage together, and several levels above them? UGP’s intrepid reporter, Isaac Cohen, sits alongside the defending Featherweight Champion, Victoria Marshall. Both watch the assembly just for a moment, until they collectively realize the camera’s rolling. Isaac straightens up a little, squaring his shoulders, while Victoria leans back in her seat, one foot planted in the seat back in front of her.]
ISAAC COHEN: “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome once again to Union Grand Prix’s One on One series! We’re in beautiful Guadalajara, Mexico, ahead of this weekend’s UGP 76, headlined by a rematch for the Featherweight Championship between former champion and hometown girl Verona Jimenez, and my guest right now, the Featherweight Champion of the World, Victoria Marshall!”
[Eventually, Victoria will get used to the flamboyant introductions–today is not that day, she just smiles and waves to the camera.]
ISAAC COHEN: “Victoria, thank you so much for the time.”
VICTORIA MARSHALL: “Absolutely.”
ISAAC COHEN: “So, I wanted to start with a curiosity of mine: obviously, this weekend’s rematch with Verona is not just a title rematch, but that was the fight that moved you up to 145 pounds–now that you’re a little more firmly situated at Featherweight, not only the title win but the defense against Lucija in Dubai, what’s the biggest difference between Bantamweight and Featherweight for you?”
[Victoria’s a little taken aback by the question, clearly not expecting that to start the interview; after a moment, though, she cracks a smile and nods.]
VICTORIA MARSHALL: “Honestly, the move up was a lot harder than I expected. I know, someone’s gonna hear that and think I’m saying 135 was easy or something, it wasn’t–but we’ve talked before about how Bantamweight is kind of a striker’s paradise. You kinda know what you’re preparing for, at 135. Sure, you had people like Dallas, or people like MANDEM, that made it a little more hectic to prepare for, but it was still preparing for the same style, for the most part. 145 is a lot more dynamic, in what you have to prepare for. Not to mention the size difference, I knew I was going to be smaller than most of the division, but I think that was the biggest thing against Lucija, especially, was just…”
[Victoria stops for a second, letting herself laugh a little.]
VICTORIA MARSHALL: “Honestly, it was just how powerful she was. It was so different to how it felt, in there with anyone at 135.”
ISAAC COHEN: “That was going to be my next question: not just against Lucija, although it was certainly on display in that fight, but against the entirety of the division, you’re going to be undersized, and for someone that fights the way you do, that seems especially difficult. But despite all that, the size and reach and power disadvantage, you looked remarkably comfortable, even when you were fighting from underneath–we’ve seen you grow thru your whole career, but this move to 145, does it feel…different, I guess, in more ways than just moving up a weight class?”
VICTORIA MARSHALL: “Yeah, I think moving up to 145 put a lot of things in a different perspective for me. I knew what worked, at Bantamweight. When I moved up, I think I expected…since I wasn’t cutting as much weight, since I was able to build myself up, I thought that would be enough. I’d be stronger, I wouldn’t be as dehydrated or have to recover as much…then I stepped in there with Verona, and got surprised by how quick she came out of the gate, how talented she was at neutralizing my takedowns; I stepped in there with Lucija, and just that raw strength was…was shocking. It was a different kind of fight, I had to be able to adapt to where the fight was happening–I didn’t have the control over it I was used to having. But, I’ve also spent…basically my entire adult life, building myself into the fighter I’ve been able to become.
VICTORIA MARSHALL: “So…I think a big part of it was just seeing the different kinds of fights that 145 offers, but it’s also a matter of just…improving, over time. It wasn’t so long ago that I had that, like…desperation, if I couldn’t get the takedown early in the fight, it just felt hopeless. Kayla will tell you, especially, go back in time and tell 2020 Victoria that not only would she stand up and throw hands with someone like Verona, but that she’d start to win those exchanges–she’d look at you like you were stupid, and she’d be right to do so. Fast-forward just a few years, and…it’s kind of amazing how things change, huh?”
ISAAC COHEN: “It really is. One of my favorite parts of my job, honestly, is getting to watch all these fights and see how the fighters evolve over time.”
[Victoria just grins a little, leaning back in her seat. For a second, she’s quiet, her fingers just drumming against the arm rest.]
VICTORIA MARSHALL: “Sometimes, it feels like Everest was just a couple months ago; other days, I think about how that was years ago now, and how much has changed in that time–and what it’s taken to make those changes. I remember I used to listen to you and Kayla talk all the time about the difference between who I was early in my career, versus who I became when I moved to Twin Cities. Uprooted my entire life, changed everything I knew, at…I think I’d just turned 21? Because I wasn’t satisfied with where I was at in my career, at the time, and…all the love in the world to my old team in Seattle, but it clearly wasn’t working there.
VICTORIA MARSHALL: “And I think, for me? That’s the biggest thing. I’m proud of what I’ve done in my career so far, but I know I still have improvements to make. I look back at the fight with Verona, and I see those moments where I could’ve been better, where I need to improve; I go back and watch the fight with Lucija, and I see that I’m gonna need to work harder, get stronger, if I want to keep going at 145. I know it’s a cliche, but it’s true: if you wanna grow, if you wanna evolve, you can’t keep doing the same things. And I was–I wasn’t growing the way I wanted to, I was just doing what worked because it worked.”
[Isaac doesn’t exactly look shocked by Victoria’s self-deprecating statement, but he does look a little surprised by it; nonetheless, he doesn’t interrupt, letting Victoria finish her thought.]
VICTORIA MARSHALL: “So, I guess to kinda circle back and answer your question, it definitely does feel different, but I don’t think it’s much to do with any one factor, it’s more to do with being the fighter I want to be. I don’t just want to be able to control a fight because I can take people down, I want to make myself the best, no matter where the fight’s taking place. The fact that the fighters at 145 bring a lot of different challenges certainly doesn’t hurt, but it’s more about my own goals than adapting to any one particular fight or fighter or even just the move up in weight or anything like that.”
ISAAC COHEN: “Two-division world champion; number one in the world, pound for pound; unbeaten in years…and still talking about needing to be better.”
[Isaac laughs a little, shaking his head with a grin. Victoria, for her part, looks a little sheepish when it’s said like that, her shoulders shrugging upward.]
ISAAC COHEN: “Alright, well, let’s stop circling around it, and talk about this fight with Verona: obviously, we’ve already discussed it a little bit, this is a rematch of your first fight at 145, and you’ve been critical of your performance on that night, even though you got your hand raised in what I thought was pretty convincing fashion–can you elaborate a little, we didn’t get too deep into it.”
VICTORIA MARSHALL: “Yeah, I don’t…I don’t think it was a great performance, especially early in the fight. I started really slow, which isn’t something I normally do, and I really couldn’t even tell you why. Maybe, for a minute, the occasion felt too big or something, I really don’t know, I just know that for the first round or two, I felt…sluggish, in a weird way, like I couldn’t quite get off the mark. That’s probably the biggest thing I knew I had to fix for this weekend, I let her establish the rhythm early on last time, and I can’t afford to do that again. I’ve got to be the one that dictates this fight, I can’t let that happen again.”
ISAAC COHEN: “Even with that slow start, though, you put on an impressive performance, even winning the striking exchanges by the end.”
VICTORIA MARSHALL: “Yeah, by the end of the fight…”
[Victoria pauses just for a beat, exhaling a little breath.]
VICTORIA MARSHALL: “When I say I’m not thrilled by that performance, I was still pretty confident I’d done enough to get my hand raised. I mean, in that moment, when you’re waiting to hear how the judges score it, you’re never quite sure, but like…I felt pretty good. I felt confident, in a different kind of way than I’d felt before. Maybe that outta be enough, I mean…it was enough to get me the belt, but I dunno. Something about it, I felt like I was leaving a lot of opportunities that I thought I’d shored up in the past. Maybe that’s more of a credit to Verona–she’s a hell of a fighter, she was making me pay for those early mistakes.”
ISAAC COHEN: “And that brings us to this weekend: a few months on from the first fight, Verona earns her way back into contention with an impressive won over Cole Carter, and in just a couple days, you’ll be in this arena, in Verona’s hometown of Guadalajara–a curious mirror of when you first challenged for the Bantamweight Championship against C.C. Flynn, in your hometown of Seattle; having been on that side of the equation, do you think that gives Verona something extra to fight for, this weekend?”
[Victoria purses her lips briefly, bobbing her head back and forth.]
VICTORIA MARSHALL: “Personally? Yeah. I do. Getting to fight for the title in Seattle was a huge thing for me, it was really kinda…hard to explain how much it meant to me, to get not only my first main event, but a title fight no less, in front of my hometown. So I’m sure Verona’s feeling a little bit of that, too, especially with how proud of a fighter she is. I think, in some ways, she still sees this as her belt and her division, so she’ll be working extra hard to make sure she doesn’t let things slip away from her again–especially in her city. I know some people say it’s just another day in the office for them, and…maybe that’s true. For me, I think it’s easy to say it doesn’t affect you in the build up–it’s not supposed to, right? You’re supposed to be just…unflappable, during fight week. But I think anyone being honest with themselves would say it does–it’s just up to you whether it affects you positively or negatively. Fighting in Seattle made me feel like I could do anything, it was such a…such a rush, to get to do that, and I imagine Verona’s gonna be feeling the same way, so I gotta be ready for that.”
ISAAC COHEN: “On the other side of that coin, though, is there extra motivation for you, coming into hostile territory like this?”
VICTORIA MARSHALL: “Mm…”
[Victoria’s nose wrinkles a little, her tongue clicking just once as she lets that silence hang for a moment.]
VICTORIA MARSHALL: “Motivation, no. I have all the motivation I need, which is wanting to prove I can be the standard bearer at 145. I want to be more than a one-and-done champion, especially after…I mean, let’s call it what it is, leap-frogging the entire division, I don’t want to come up short as I’m trying to really establish myself. I’m not here to play villain and all that, that’s…that’s not me. I don’t get any extra motivation out of…silencing the crowd or whatever. My goal’s always been a pretty simple one: to be better. I don’t need…a crowd that hates me or whatever to have that, I just have to want to hear that announcement: And STILLLLLL..”
[Victoria smiles a little, sitting up a bit straighter, very much not projecting her voice even as she mimics the whole post-fight announcement.]
VICTORIA MARSHALL: “For me, that’s what this weekend is about: it’s not about coming here to…silence Verona’s fans or whatever, it’s just…a chance to really make a mark on this division, to put on the kind of performance I expect from myself. I want to be more definitive this time, I don’t want to be able to walk out of this arena saying…yanno, “man, I wish I’d been able to do X or Y or Z,” I wish I’d been able to…catch that choke, to finish the fight before the bell, to land that one shot that juuuuust missed, yanno what I mean? All those things that I look back at the first fight and think I could’ve done better, I could’ve been more decisive. I don’t want to do that with this weekend’s fight. I want to walk out of this fight with no questions asked, no more doubts or worries or nothing like that. Verona’s crazy talented, she’s gonna be up for it this weekend; if anything, it’s probably gonna be a tougher fight than the first time, so I gotta make sure I take advantage of every opportunity I can find. No slip-ups, no mis-steps, nothing that almost got me caught early on in that first fight.
VICTORIA MARSHALL: “I want to be the best–not just this weekend, but the best in this whole division, hopefully for a long time. That is what motivates me.”
[Isaac nods a little, seemingly…if not satisfied, at least understanding.]
ISAAC COHEN: “Fair enough–we’ll let you get back to preparing for the fight. Thank you so much for the time, best of luck this weekend.”
VICTORIA MARSHALL: “Thank you!”
[Victoria gives a little wave to the camera, and the video cuts to black.]