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Mixed in with an exciting rematch between Bobby Voelker and Roger Bowling and fights from former Challengers event headliners in Billy Evangelista and Lavar Johnson is the Strikeforce debut of 4-0 women's 145 lb. fighter Shana Olsen.
Olsen, a product of Sergio Cunha's Minnesota Fight Factory, was initially supposed to debut for Strikeforce in August in a fight against Erin Toughill. Toughill was forced to pull from the fight when she determined she would not be able to make the contracted weight for the fight, and a public spat between the two women never resulted in a fight.
She now gets to step in the cage for the first time outside of Minnesota when she faces Canadian Muay Thai champion Julia Budd in her MMA debut.
"I'm really excited and really happy to be working with such a great organization like Strikeforce," Olsen told MMATorch this week. "I'm glad that they were able to get me on the next available card so I could get in there and show everybody what I could do."
"The exposure is phenomenal, and I'm really excited and happy about the card. This is what the Challengers card is all about. It's about showing up and coming fighters and I think Strikeforce has done a really great job at promoting the fighters that are coming up in the ranks and that are trying to make a name for themselves, especially in women's MMA."
Olsen's work with Cunha has been critical in her development, and the team they've put together at the Minnesota Fight Factory has helped her round out her skills as a mixed martial artist.
"Sergio is a world-class trainer. He's trained the best in the world," she said. "He's trained Anderson Silva, the Nogueira brothers, Wanderlei [Silva], B.J. Penn, he's been with some big names and he comes with that experience and that skill level. He came here because he wants to build the next generation of MMA fighters. And I think he's found that here in Minnesota with all of us. Travis Reddinger, Mike Richman, Chris McCallister, Shawn Williams, Travis Perzynski, all of these guys are at the gym, working really hard to become the next class of MMA champions."
"I've spent a lot of time at making myself a well rounded MMA fighter. I'm not just a boxer anymore. That was kind of my background and that's what I came in with, but I've gained so many other skill sets working with everybody at the Minnesota Fight Factory. With what Sergio Cunha has taught me and Shane DeZee, and so many of our guys have a wrestling background that I've really gotten a good experience and a good mix of everything that I need to be a well-rounded MMA fighter."
Olsen compiled a record of 19-1-1 in boxing in both amateur and professional fights before moving to MMA, but with the Muay Thai background of Cunha and the all around work she's been doing in training, she feels prepared anywhere the fight goes with Budd. While this is Budd's MMA debut, she holds a Muay Thai victory over Gina Carano and competed in this year's Grappler's Quest, and Olsen knows she faces a formidable foe in Fresno on Friday.
"I'm sure she's been working on her ground game and making sure that it's ready, and I hope she has," Olsen said. "I'm looking forward to a good fight, I want to battle. I'm definitely ready to show everybody how good I am...I think everybody can expect an exciting fight.
"She's a Muay Thai striker, that's kind of been my background working with Sergio, so we're going to go in there and give everybody a good show. And I definitely don't look past anybody. Every fight is important and you need it to gain that experience, so I'm just happy to get back into the cage."
Without looking past Budd, questions about Olsen's place in the title picture in the women's division still immediately come into play. As Strikeforce Women's 145 lb. Champion Cris Cyborg has gotten past all comers, the list of potential challengers is a short one, and a victory over Budd on Friday could put Olsen into that spot. It's a position she feels ready for, despite what would only be a five fight career to this point.
"I definitely feel that I'm a lot stronger than anyone that she's faced to this point," Olsen said. "She hasn't really fought anyone that has the same power and aggressiveness that she has and I definitely bring that to the table. I'm not afraid of her. I [wouldn't] be going in there thinking I [only] have a shot or that I could maybe win, [I'd be] going in there thinking that I can beat her, that I can win. Everyone else sees her as this unreachable person and that nobody can beat her; that's not the case, anybody's beatable."
"I think the title shot is within probably the next few months, I would hope [with a win over Julia Budd.] Our camp is ready for whatever, I'm ready to fight whoever. I want to be a world champion. I've never backed down from a fight, I've never turned down a fight, because it's what I need to do to be a world champion, I need to fight."
"I know what I want, and I'm working hard to get towards that goal."
You can see Shana Olsen vs. Julia Budd on Friday night on Showtime as Strikeforce Challengers 11 airs at 11PM ET.
Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/Affliction2/article_7270.shtml
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