Now you have been in the fight game since 2001, on your blog I noticed that you started talking about your age? Does this mean that you are thinking about retiring?

AB: I'm definitely getting frustrated by the amount of pain I'm in on a day to day basis. Having my back kill me just to put my shoes on is getting old. But my desire to fight and my love of the training still far outweighs any of that. The one thing that could force me to retire is the inability to find legitimate fights. This has become a real issue as of late. I have some things lined up for the next few months which will hopefully pan out. If they don't and it goes to long I will call it quits and focus my energy on things that bring more positivity into my life. The situation I've experienced in the fight world since my last fight (April 2007) has been really stressful and has been on my mind all the time. Life is to short to live like that. Fighting has been such a great experience in my life that I'd rather stop now before it's become too much of a bad thing than end up hating it because I tried in vain for years to get good fights.


BH: I was watching the Kedzie/Carano when it first aired and the commenter said that these women are the pioneers of the sport? Does that bug you that girls like you and Larosa, Purcell and other had already been fighting for years? Or were you just glad to see MMA on mainstream television?

AB: I wish I could say I'm an enlightened enough individual that I don't feel any irritation at that sort of thing. I've worked so hard to become one of the best women in the world and have put my time in and so have some other girls out there. Of course you can't help but feel that it's not right. But at the same time I am glad to see women getting exposure. I thought, in the case of the Kedzie/Carano fight, both women showed nothing but skill and professionalism which is great for the sport. I do have to say though, that it was a bit of a strange experience to sit in my living room a month after submitting Kedzie in about two minutes and watch her fight on Showtime. Don't get me wrong, i think Julie is a great fighter and deserves every opportunity she gets. But the womens fight world does resemble bizarro world at times. I've definitly learned that there's a lot more to getting opportunities than how good you are.

BH: With all the craziness that happened with the last fight, what's next for Amanda Buckner?

AB: Well I've got a couple of possibilities for March. In April the next Ring of Fire event is supposed to take place and I'm also talking to Smackgirl about their open weight tournament at the end of April. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that a couple of these work out.


BH: Anybody you would like to thank?

AB: I want to thank my coach and husband Jay Jack for being the best, my family for being so supportive, and all our students for being such a great source of motivation. I also want to thank a couple of sponsors: Hell on Earth ( www.hellonearthcult.com), Freeport Integrated Health, and Sprawl (www.sprawl.tv).