“It’s been so incredible to watch because, when I first started, this is back in 2013, I don’t think a lot of people in America realize MMA in Australia is a couple years behind just in terms of growth and popularity and notoriety. It’s still growing. And I think, with the last couple of years, it’s really starting to explode. When I first started, it was a taboo sport. It was considered barbaric, and nobody wanted to do it, and there was a bad stigma around it. But I think over the last six or seven years, people are starting to realize that it really is such a disciplined sport, and for women, it’s crazy because in Australia, there was only a couple of us, particularly when I first switched over to Invicta before coming to the UFC. There was maybe only like, five of us, if that. It was myself, Jessica Rose-Clark, Arlene Blencowe and Bec Rawlings and Alex Chambers. That was pretty much it that had the potential to go far because there wasn’t a lot of women, whereas now, I look at social media back home and stuff like that, and there’s so many women coming up through the ranks now. And I love it because, finally, we’re starting to grow in this sport and get the recognition for all the hard work, and I think it’s exciting when fresh, up-and-coming, not just women, but any fighters coming up through the ranks, I think it’s exciting because it brings new blood and different skills and different challenges and problems to the table to try and dissect, and as a competitor, that’s exciting. That should be exciting … It’s been incredible to watch, and I think a big part of that has been Ronda Rousey. I definitely think she was a big part of that, of mainstreaming MMA, and particularly women in MMA, but I think from that, how every single woman has risen to the occasion and has shown grace and style and how amazing each of them are, not just on a personal level, but as a competitor as well, I think that it’s been crazy and exciting and charismatic to watch because we have all these personalities now, and it’s just only going to keep growing.”
