"I’d have been happy to keep punching her in the head."
Congratulations Aisling on your win that was broadcast last week. You beat Angela Magana by TKO in the third round and moved into the quarter-final to take on Jessica Penne. How did you find the pressure of performing for the first time in front of a UFC audience?
Well it didn't really feel like it was an audience because the cage we fight in is the cage that we train in and the whole gym was kind of silent. It was a all a bit eerie.
You were in a bit of trouble in the first round with a rear-naked choke, if you can cast your mind back that far, how much danger did you think you were in?
I don't think I was in any trouble at all. I'm a stubborn bitch when it comes to tapping so there was never any danger of that. She had my back but I was just taking my time, making sure not to give her anything.
Do you think it was a good stoppage in the end?
I really did some damage and if you’re not intelligently defending yourself then that’s the end of it. It was definitely a fair stoppage from the ref and if she had any problem with the call, I’d have been happy to keep punching her in the head.
How did you find it, having to live in such close proximity to the person you were preparing to fight?
It was pretty difficult. It was kind of a stressful situation having to share a living space. You go into brush your teeth in the morning and your opponent is the one who walks out the bathroom door.
Did you get along with Angela in the house?
She wasn’t a nice person and was difficult to deal with but it's a job at the end of the day. It’s business – we’re going to go in there and fight anyway so there’s no need to posture beside the knives and forks. We’re not gonna have a fight in the kitchen, we’re gonna do it in the cage in a day or two.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVougpZZPPE
At the start of the competition, you were seeded fifth out of sixteen competitors, do you think that was an accurate representation of your level as a fighter?
I wouldn’t agree or disagree with it really. There were some fighters there from Invicta with a lot less experience than I had who were seeded ahead of me even though they’d faced nobody. Plus I had only fought at 115lb twice before that so they didn’t have much to play around with in terms of the Strawweight rankings. I didn’t have much of a problem with the seedings. Not so happy with being the last pick though but it just shows that the coaches didn’t do their research.
It was one of the most diverse seasons of The Ultimate Fighter in terms of nationalities, with and Alice Chambers and Bec Rawlings from Australia and Joanne Calderwood from Scotland to name a few. Did you find that you stuck together more, being outsiders in America?
I tended to hang out more with Jo, Randa (Markos), who was Canadian, and Alex. I didn’t really get along with Bec or interact with her much, especially since she’s been so negative towards me on Twitter so she’s definitely not in my clique *laughs*.
At this stage in the competition your team, Team Pettis, is 6-0 in their fights. Have you been surprised at how dominant Anthony Pettis has been as a coach or is it down to his coaching staff?
Definitely not, when I saw the picks come up I had very little doubt in my mind about the match-ups. Pettis picked the strongest team at the beginning. In terms of his coaching staff, Coach Cush (Scott Cushman) was a really great guy and he had some really interesting insight. Duke Roufus was actually only there a week which was not ideal, I’d have liked to have gotten more training time in with him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhhhXI0wXTg
The episode in which you fought also showed a bit of a falling-out with Team Pettis’ strength-and-conditioning coach, what happened there?
I think it was completely counter-productive. It’s basic sports psychology and positive reinforcement, you don’t start questioning the mental state of someone who already appears to be struggling. That kind of bugged me and it ended up fueling me a bit more. Like I’ve 19 professional fights and been through so much, to a time when sport didn’t exist in this country to where I am now, I was like 'you don’t know anything about me, how dare you question my mental strength'.
You’ve spoken a bit about suffering with depression and anxiety, how difficult did you find it being away from your family and friends while training?
It definitely made it harder to deal with it. I was aware before I went in that there was a good chance that, being away from everybody and the harshness of the situation, that I might slip into a bit of a black patch. But because I was aware of it, I did my best to combat that and try to keep positive by staying out of most of the drama in the house.
With an all-female case, was there much cattiness?
There were arguments here, there and everywhere over the silliest things. Whether it was over someone’s food going missing or who was in the bathroom too long or who was farting. Just ridiculous things.
Anthony Pettis has been pretty vocal in saying things like “she does everything fundamentally wrong but it works.” He obviously meant it as a compliment but how did you take that?
John Kavanagh has never in his life told me that I was wrong in doing anything that works and that’s the way we do it in SBG. We all have our own style, maybe an unorthodox way of doing things but it’s effective. If it works, it works.
You watched the McGregor – Brandao card while you were in the house. How upsetting was it that you missed out on being present for one of the most historic nights for Irish MMA?
I knew going into the house that the card had been finalised and how everything was going to happen but it was definitely hard being so far away from it. At the same time it was so uplifting to see how well the lads performed and see them all get their wins and then when I got the shout-out from Paddy Holohan, it just really lifted my spirits in the house. At the same time, having been in the sport for so long, it almost felt that my baby was growing up without me there.
Conor’s rise has been meteoric in the last 18 months. How confident are you that he will become the champion in at least some weight division?
I’m very confident that he’ll be champion in both divisions (featherweight and lightweight). Having watched the Aldo – Mendes fight and some of the sloppy exchanges, Conor can take advantage of that.
I think John Kavanagh said last month that he thinks McGregor could even move up to Welterweight and take the belt. Do you reckon that might just be a bridge too far?
It might just be a bridge too far *laughs*. We’ve already got a few 170 pounders in there at the minute with Cathal and Gunnar, leave some pieces of the pie for the rest of us. Maybe he’ll have a sex change and go down to 115lb *laughs*.
This is the first time the Strawweights have been pushed by the UFC. What do you think the 115lb weight class brings to the promotion?
I think that the Strawweight division is going to be one of the most exciting divisions. I actually think the top 16 females can be very competitive. That’s not including everybody in the house because I don’t actually think they represent the best of the weight class. I’d rank Claudia Gadelha and Joanna Jedrzejczyk ahead of a good percentage of those in the house.
What’s the current state of women’s MMA in Ireland?
It’s still growing. It’s quite poor if I’m honest. There’s not really many female fighters at all and no one as high level as me right now. I just think there’s not really a positive culture for Irish women in any sport. I think we’re just really a nation of sporting women which is really sad and the government should get involved to encourage young girls to get more into sport.
Do you have any regrets in signing up for the Ultimate Fighter?
Definitely not. I did what I came to do and have signed a contract for my first official UFC fight which will take place on December 12. Now all I have to do is turn up and perform.
The Pettis – Melendez fight is a week before that, who are you picking?
I think Pettis will win that fight. He’s more of a technician and that’s not anything to do with him being my coach. I’m actually more of a fan of Gil but I think Pettis’ striking is just too slick.
And finally, how many times did you have to correct people who had called you Ayzling?
I just gave up on it after a while. I was just like “FORGET ABOUT HOW IT’S SPELLED.” I ended up telling them just to call me Ais but they still had trouble with that.
