8 Questions for Taylor Turner
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In this exclusive interview with Sherdog.com, Taylor discusses her pre-fight preparations, reveals her thoughts on Hardy and touches on her interests outside of fighting:
Sherdog.com: How do you prepare for a fight like
this?
Turner: At [the Knoxville Martial Arts Academy], one of our mantras is “if you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready.” One of the big benefits of this is that the routine helps with preventing big red-button feelings of “OK, I’ve only got four to six weeks to get ready for the fight of my life.” Instead, I just keep doing what I’ve been doing, with a few tweaks. The diet gets a bit stricter, my head coach and husband, Eric Turner, watches all the film and decides on a game plan, so then during practices we spend a little more time tweaking and improving upon what we do day in and day out. As far as strength and conditioning [goes], my coach, Frankie Padilla, has a cycle for each fighter. When we find out about fights, he just puts us on the spot of the cycle of strength versus conditioning. At KMAA, we are constantly doing mental skills -- we even have a class for it -- so fights are just an opportunity for me to test all the mental and physical skills I’ve been working.
Sherdog.com: What are your thoughts on your opponent?
Turner: Well, I do know she is a champion boxer and is a very seasoned athlete. I don’t watch film personally. My coach does all that because, for me, I can get too focused on what they are going to do [and] I lose focus on what I’m going to do. I’ve learned that lesson over the years, that I function better doing me. I always love the saying iron sharpens iron, and I am super blessed to have so many amazing training partners at my gym to help me get ready. That saying applies to opponents, too. Heather Hardy is the favored fighter in this matchup and is super game, so what that means for me is I get to sharpen my skills against one of the best boxers in the world. Any true artist would be super stoked to get the opportunity to test themselves against the best.
Sherdog.com: Did you have a martial arts or athletics background before you found MMA?
Turner: As far as martial arts [goes], I had no background before coming to KMAA. In a lot of ways, this has been a benefit because I didn’t come in with any bad habits that might be functional habits in an individualized art but not so much in MMA. I have always been a competitor and athlete, though. I’m an avid runner. Half marathons are my favorite, but I’ve done a lot of marathons and endurance-type races. I was also on the crew team at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities my freshman year of college.
Sherdog.com: What do you do outside of fighting?
Turner: My life is largely involved in MMA. I am a gym owner, personal trainer and nutritional and strength-and-conditioning coach for a lot of our athletes. Eric and I also own our own MMA promotion that takes up a lot of our time, and I am the president of a non-profit that aims to help those who can’t afford martial arts classes and competitions be able to do so. Outside of that, I race a lot. I love doing Disney World races. I also really do enjoy my son, Beckett, who is 5, and my two step kids, Soren, 9, and Elys, 17. We go to the zoo a lot, play Legos and travel when we can. Traveling is on the top of my list, but even that is usually around MMA. When we have a fighter fight somewhere -- for example, Ovince St. Preux fights all over the world -- my husband and I try to take time after the event to explore whatever part of the world we are in. I have three Newfoundland dogs that I love to play with, too.
Sherdog.com: How do you see yourself beating Hardy?
Turner: I don’t know how exactly I am going to beat her; I just know I am going to win. I am a big daydreamer, and I have pictured winning this fight in every way imaginable, I think. She has spent the majority of her life perfecting boxing, [and] obviously, that is a huge strength of hers, but while she has been doing that, I have been doing MMA, boxing for MMA, wrestling for MMA [and Brazilian jiu-jitsu] for MMA. I know she has a fantastic camp behind her, so by no means am I underestimating any of her skills in all areas, but everyone only gets 24 hours in a day; and I’ve spent most of my hours training for this sport, while she has dedicated more of hers to boxing.
Sherdog.com: Are you still at Knoxville MMA or have you trained somewhere else?
Turner: I still train at KMAA. As I’ve traveled around the world, I’ve been blessed to get to train with camps in Singapore, Las Vegas [and] Wisconsin, to name a few, but KMAA is my home and source of knowledge. I get to train with a ton of great fighters of all sizes, but the two that I have been with the most are our other pro female 125ers: Christina Ricker and Shanna Young. Both [are] Invicta vets, and Shanna is going to be on [Dane White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series] in August. I wish I had time and room to name all my fight partners, though.
Sherdog.com: Are there any fighters out there that inspire you?
Turner: The fighters out there that inspire me are the ones who aren’t the angry, I-hate-my-opponent types. They inspire me because I think they are on a different level of flow and appreciation for the sport. Anger gets adrenaline pumping but can really hinder your capacity to not make dumb mistakes. The ones who have such confidence, they can appreciate their opponent and the discipline it took to get to where they are. Those that get back up after losses and can really stay focused after wins, those are my heroes. I would say Demetrius Johnson and Rose Namajunas are two notable fighters who have this down, but there are people I have fought -- some I lost to and some I won against -- who also showcase this. Not all of them, but some, for sure.
Sherdog.com: What’s your end goal with MMA?
Turner: I used to think I had to give a great sexy answer to this question, like, “I’m going to be champion of the universe” or something like that, but that is not why I started or why I am still here. I want to see if what I do works, and if not, how can I make it better. I also want to inspire and help my teammates who do aspire to be champions the best I can, and the only way I can think to do that is to be down in the trenches with them. I don’t have the tremendous knowledge our coaches Eric Turner and Joey Zonar have, but I am learning and I can help the coaches and our fighters by being on both sides. They listen to me because I know what a weight cut is and how to do it because I study it and do it. I’ve gotten back up, tear-stained and humbled at times, to keep going. I know what it’s like to freeze in the cage because of pressures from the outside, and I’ve been able to unleash with freedom of mind of not caring what anyone else thinks. I’ve been at the bottom of the barrel and the top. I’ve got a family and a life to live while I train, so my end goal is to keep growing as a fighter and trainer, for me and for those I love; and my goal is that my last day fighting will never because I’m too old or have a bad record but because I want something else.
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