ONE ON ONE FT. VICTORIA MARSHALL
[We open to what looks like a spare locker room, somewhere tucked out of the way, with a poster for this weekend’s UGP 78 haphazardly slapped on the wall to serve as a backdrop–and as the camera pans back enough to reveal the two women we’re here for, they both seem to be aware of that fact; Kayla Chapman, dressed to the nines as ever, has a hand over her mouth as a much less formally dressed Victoria Marshall, still in sweats with her hood up over her head, points to the poster with a smile. Once they both realize the camera’s rolling, they turn their attention to it, Kayla lifting her mic as Victoria stuffs her hands in the front pocket of her hoodie.]
KAYLA CHAPMAN: “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome, welcome, welcome! Kayla Chapman, backstage at the United Center ahead of the weigh ins for this weekend’s eighth anniversary show, UGP 78, headlined by a Featherweight Championship defense between the undefeated challenger, Chicago’s own Tristano D’Amico, and my guest at this time, the #1 Ranked Pound for Pound fighter, the Union Grand Prix Featherweight Champion, Victoria Marshall!”
[Victoria can’t help but laugh a little, giving a wave to the camera as she adapts to Kayla’s over the top introductions again.]
KAYLA CHAPMAN: “Victoria, thank you so much for joining me, I know the weigh-ins are never fun for you guys.”
VICTORIA MARSHALL: “Yeah, I heard you tormented Sadie Williams with waffles not too long ago. Harsh…”
[Kayla sputters and folds her arms across her chest as Victoria just grins.]
KAYLA CHAPMAN: “Hey now, meeting at breakfast time was her choice!”
VICTORIA MARSHALL: “Cruel…”
[Victoria shakes her head in ‘disappointment’ as Kayla exhales a sharp breath.]
KAYLA CHAPMAN: “Alright, fine, maybe that was a mistake. Either way! It’s been quite a while since we really got to sit down and chat, and…it’s kind of hard to overstate what a year it’s been for you! You entered the year on the back of winning the Featherweight Championship in what was a competitive but, ultimately, pretty convincing win over Verona Jimenez–you’re now two defenses into this reign, including a rematch over Verona that, personally, I think changed a lot of perspectives about who you are as a fighter.”
[Victoria looks…a little shocked by that statement, but it also makes her smile.]
VICTORIA MARSHAL: “Yeah, the last…I’d say around 18 months or so, it’s been a lot to take in. It’s honestly been the hardest stretch of my career, maybe excluding the first Everest season…but it’s also been the most…satisfying, maybe? Or validating? When I first made the decision to move up to 145, I spent…more time than I wanna admit just asking myself that same question, over and over–is this really a good idea? Was I positive this is what I wanted to do, to take that jump and hope it worked out? And every day since, I’ve put a little more work into proving that it was the right decision. I feel stronger and healthier, which…you never think 10 pounds is a lot, until you’re trying to get rid of it….”
[Victoria lets out a laugh as she brushes a bit of hair out of her face.]
VICTORIA MARSHALL: “I’ve felt…better, in so many ways, since I made that decision, but there was still that little doubt, yanno what I mean? And I think a lot of it was needing a fight like the one against Verona a few months ago, cuz…I’ve been saying for a long time, every fight I work to improve; I’m not the same fighter I was…even when I fought C.C. or Redd, and that wasn’t so long ago–sometimes it feels like it was, the difference between then and now. But, yeah, I know there’s a perception, even now, that I basically have one way to win, and that fight…that fight gave me a chance to show who I am, not just as a wrestler, but as a complete fighter. I think last time, against Verona, really let me show the fighter I’ve become.”
KAYLA CHAPMAN: “And what a performance it was–in her backyard, no less!”
[Victoria just smiles a little, glancing down just for a moment before looking back up at the camera.]
KAYLA CHAPMAN: “Which, I think, brings us pretty comfortably to this weekend–your third defense of the Featherweight Championship, in another challenger’s hometown, but–at least to me–this one feels different; obviously fighting in Mexico, in Verona’s hometown, was a crazy atmosphere, but coming into Union’s birthplace, Chicago, and facing a Chicago boy in Tristano D’Amico, that’s never tasted defeat before…is there something about this fight that feels different to you, too?”
VICTORIA MARSHALL: “Um…”
[There’s a long beat of silence as Victoria just lulls her tongue around her mouth. When she eventually finds an answer, her head bobs up and down.]
VICTORIA MARSHALL: “Yeah, I mean, it’s always a crazy atmosphere when you have a hometown fighter, right? Like, I talked with Isaac about this a few months ago, getting to fight C.C. in Seattle, getting my hand raised and winning the Bantamweight title in my hometown? That was a crazy night for me, so I know what it means to be in front of your own people. I know what it means to have a chance to reach the top, in the place you want to do it the most. I know we’re supposed to be all cool and cold, it doesn’t mean anything or whatever, but…I dunno, to me, it was a big deal, and it’s a major opportunity for Tristano this weekend. I don’t doubt that this weekend’s gonna be special. I mean this in the best possible way, Chicago’s always a crazy place to come to, even just as a fan, so getting in there with one of their own? Especially someone as dangerous as he’s proven he can be, it’s gonna have…a different feeling, for sure.”
KAYLA CHAPMAN: “I’ve always been curious, but I haven’t really had a chance to ask about this: does being in hostile territory change anything for you? Does it change the way you prepare, does it change what you expect, or is it something you even think about at this point? And what goes thru your mind, making that walk? Knowing the whole place is going to be booing you?”
VICTORIA MARSHALL: “I’d love to be able to say you don’t even think about it. I’d love to be able to say it’s just…white noise or whatever, that it’s nothing in the build up to the fight, and even in the fight itself, but that’s not really the case. It’s not exactly fun, walking into a room like that–knowing every single person is gonna be rooting against you. Obviously you’d rather have support, but…it also kinda can’t be something you think about? I know that’s a bit of a cop-out answer, but there’s nothing you can do about it. If you’re walking into someone else’s backyard, you’re gonna get booed, so…you gotta just deal with knowing that there’s gonna be a lot of people that want to watch you get knocked out. It’s just gotta become one more thing not to think about–especially in a fight where we both have something to lose.”
KAYLA CHAPMAN: “I assume you mean he either walks out with the Featherweight Championship, or…”
VICTORIA MARSHALL: “Or the first loss of his career, yeah. It’s actually kinda crazy to think, this might be the first person I’ve fought since Everest that’s undefeated in his career–I’ve fought people that had never lost in Union before, but off the top of my head, I can’t think of anyone who was undefeated in their whole career since I made the jump up. And he’s got a crazy run of the last few fights, I mean…the fight a year ago with Carter Vaughn, he showed a lot of heart to survive the early trouble–he wasn’t taking big shots, but I’ve seen fights stopped from less than he was taking, but survived and landed that big head kick. After that was…what, was that Izzy?”
KAYLA CHAPMAN: “Yeah, a few months later, that five rounder with Isabel.”
VICTORIA MARSHALL: “Yeah, that was a wild fight. There were chances that both of them could’ve been stopped, it kinda blew my mind that that fight lasted all 5 rounds. My point being, this isn’t someone who’s just fought…nobody, and got a title shot off of it. This isn’t someone who’s never been tested, who has that zero on his record because he’s never had to fight thru anything. This is a guy who’s had to survive several rounds on his back with one of the best jiu-jitsu fighters in MMA, this is a guy who’s traded punches with people with real knockout power, and had his chin and his heart tested. And he’s got thru it all with that 0 still intact–I think that makes this weekend special, way beyond just fighting in his hometown.”
KAYLA CHAPMAN: “Do you think that’s what makes Tristano most dangerous? He almost seems to…feed off that kind of adversity, he comes back harder and stronger when he’s put in a bad position. Coming up to this opportunity, Vegas has him as an almost 3:1 underdog even in his hometown, our own prediction polls have you favored close to 60%…”
[Victoria can’t help it–her eyes roll as the betting numbers get tossed out.]
VICTORIA MARSHALL: “Yeah, I mean, I think Tristano has a lot of weapons; he’s strong, he’s got a long reach, he’s a hell of a striker, he’s not someone to play with in that cage. If you give him any kind of break, he’s going to take advantage of it–I’ll say it again, there’s a reason he’s made it to this fight unbeaten. But yeah, I think that heart, that belief in himself is one of the biggest. You don’t get to the top without believing in yourself–some might even say you don’t get there without an ego–but you can tell what it means to him, every time he fights. The Carter fight, I think a lot of people woulda come into round 3 defeated, he came in looking…angry, I guess is the best way I could describe it? Like it was offensive that he was losing that fight, and…well, there weren’t a whole lot of questions when the fight was over, were there?”
[Kayla shakes her head negatively, but seems to know better than to interrupt at this moment.]
VICTORIA MARSHALL: “And maybe more than anything else, that makes him a dangerous opponent. Someone who doesn’t get defeated mentally, is tough to defeat physically. Combine that with the advantages he has over me, in terms of just sheer physicality? Reach advantage, size advantage, all those things that you can measure, they all kind of line up for him, don’t they? On paper, this looks…it looks like it’s gonna be a rough night for me…
VICTORIA MARSHALL: “But…
VICTORIA MARSHALL: “On paper, a lot of fights looked like they were gonna be rough nights for me. On paper, I shouldn’t have beaten C.C. On paper, I shouldn’t have beaten Verona. On paper, I definitely shouldn’t have beaten Lucija. The only way you settle a fight on paper is if you line the cage with printer sheets. And for as good as Tristano is, as impressive as he’s been so far in his career? Here’s the flip side of that coin: he isn’t anything I haven’t seen before–a talented, powerful striker with the reach advantage on me, I feel like that’s…most of my career, summed up in a few words. The only difference between fighting him, and fighting Verona, is the number of losses in their record…“
[A shoulder shrugs upward as Victoria pauses just for a moment.]
VICTORIA MARSHALL: “That 0 looks good on the graphics, it looks good on paper, and I’m sure it’s a motivator for him, to keep it thru this weekend, to give Chicago that happy ending with their undefeated hometown guy…but it doesn’t make him invincible. And the holes I see in his game…work out pretty well for my kinda fight–Izzy, Carter, even Rachel have shown that he doesn’t always respond well to pressure, and especially if you put him on his back…he looked pretty vulnerable. The fact that he survived those rounds with Izzy and Carter is a credit to him, but there’s a big difference between finding that escape when you’re defending against a submission, and trying to find room when you’re defending against being elbowed in the face. It’s been tough for anyone to just survive the pressure I put on them.”
[After giving Victoria an extra second to see if she’s going to continue, Kayla smiles and brings the mic back to her side.]
KAYLA CHAPMAN: “I know better than to ask for an actual prediction, that’s probably the closest I’m going to get. Victoria, thank you so much for the time, good luck this weekend!”
VICTORIA MARSHALL: “Thank you!”
[And on that, with both ladies smiling, the scene cuts to black.]
