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Victory lap w/ Jena Bishop after Kana Watanabe Win!
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Jun 16, 2025
Jena Bishop and her dog Cash took some time out of their busy cuddling schedule to hang out with us and talk about her big win vs Kana Watanabe last weekend at PFL! Our longtime training partner and good friend has secured her spot in the tournament and moves on to the next round. Hear her thoughts on her performance Saturday, her next opponent and how soft her feet were when she up-kicked Kana in the face. Powered by Duelbits. Join us: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1FaPU4wQCG9RdbNlMBI-fA/join
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0:00
hey thanks for joining us how are you feeling congratulations on your big win in the first
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round of the women's flyweight tournament for the pfl i'm good you know other than just i wish i
0:17
wasn't sick oh no but it's all good did she get you sick at all i know i think it's your fault
0:28
for sure. I haven't seen you in two weeks. I feel like that's always a thing though. It's like
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I get, I get something like some kind of like sickness after every fight, just like the
0:42
immune systems tanked up or cutting weight and then going to war
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Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, you had one heck of a war. How's your body feeling after that
0:53
Good. Yeah. Like I was like the day after I was feeling a little, you know, sore in spots and I
0:58
was like why did that feel sore oh oh yeah oh yeah but then now i feel good yeah have you watched
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the tape back to see like why certain parts like a weird part of your foot was sore and then like
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a weird part of something else like did you look and see like oh i landed that kick on her head
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that's why i was like looking back at some photos i still haven't watched the whole fight back because
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i just i don't know i get weird about watching myself it's like a i have to do it but i just
1:26
need some time away from it no matter win or loss but i think that i kicked my foot was hurting from
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kicking my coach in the on his helmet backstage warming up nice so she gets no credit for yeah
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my elbow was hurting from that landing that that bruise so it's like oh yeah i was wondering did
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you forget that you could throw elbows? Because I was I was asking Brian halfway through the first
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round, can she throw elbows? Can she throw elbows? And then like, Ray was up there too. And I was
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like, can they throw elbows? And I was telling me, but I'm like, I want to see scream elbow
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but I don't want to like give her the wrong message. Did you forget at all? Or was it always
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on your mind? I mean, like, I, I remember, like, it's not something that I was had been practicing
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very much until like they've redid it so like it's not something I do very often in practice either
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but then um Johnny uh was actually yelling elbows in the corner and that's like the one so it's like
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my grappling coach was telling me to throw elbows like yeah I was like oh yeah I could do that
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that's funny well you uh in the clinch specifically looked absolutely amazing I've never seen you in
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sparring thank goodness I have not experienced that in sparring but also in fights I have not
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seen any dirty box like that it was absolutely vicious um where have you been working on that
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um I don't know I think that some some of it's just instinctual because it's like there's certain
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things like you would do that I wouldn't necessarily do as like in training as much
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because I would feel like I'm being a jerk like whatever and I love you girls I wouldn't oh shoot
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I think, but yeah, it's like, I wouldn't want to do that to too many people, but, um, sorry
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The camera said lies. Yeah. There's only a few. I greatly appreciate it
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No, but that was, I mean, I think I had actually this camp a couple of times
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I've been working a little bit more clinch, like at least knees and stuff from there. So the dirty boxing, I was just like, oh, yeah, I can do that, too
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I unfortunately have felt the difference of you learning how to throw the knee properly
3:48
And it's definitely changed. Like when I think it was I feel like it was this camp
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You started really putting your hips into it. Yeah. You feel a difference and your knee is a little more pointed than before
4:00
And there was that one picture I saw where it looked like it was almost going up underneath the ribs
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Yeah. Nice one. Yeah. Yeah. I was actually, I was looking at some of those
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I was like, I feel like my coach is going to be like, you should have been a little bit more pointy with those knees
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Turn that foot out, heel out, whatever. But, you know, make it pretty. Yeah, they were still effective, I think
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They were very effective. I don't know. Okay, I'm just going to hold this
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I'm just going to hold it. Okay, sorry. So, did you guys talk at all before or after the fight, you and Kana
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um i mean not really she doesn't really speak english so that's kind of difficult but i mean i
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like i after the words like she was like really respectful her corner to just like
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say like i said like good job thanks whatever that's about it because there's not really like
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a lot i don't know any japanese you didn't say the phrase i know the phrase i wanted to i wanted
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you to i can't remember what was it my omaya wa motion daru it means you are already dead
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but it's like uh it's like this stupid i don't even know if that's how you say it properly in
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japanese but it's this stupid meme that became famous from anime and i don't even remember the
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the show it was but basically the guy goes omaya wa motion and a guy goes naughty and he explodes
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because he didn't realize he hit him with a death touch. So I felt like that was fitting for Jenna's fight
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Like she should have let her know. I'm just bad at that part. I feel like that would have been a really good like face-off kind of thing
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like weigh-ins kind of interaction, just to throw her off her game
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I know. I'm just really bad at that part of this stuff. It's okay
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It just takes practice. And since you're going into the second round of the tournament
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you have another opportunity with your next opponent. How are you feeling about that matchup going into it
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I mean, I feel good. I think she's just like a wrestler from what I've looked at
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but I haven't done like too much research or anything on her
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because I'm just trying to like process what just happened this weekend
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But yeah, so I'm excited about it. You know, she's Ukrainian and like a lot of people around me
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speak Russian and Ukrainian. So I'm like trying to find some, I'll try and learn
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some phrases from my personal trainer. He's from Ukraine. So I was like, teach me
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I know a really good one in Russian that you can say. You say
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it means hello, . Oh, I like that. Okay, I like that
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I'm passing in the elevator, you know. I was trying to figure out this girl. I think she's like
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I don't know if she was like German and Ukrainian or something
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I keep seeing like that or she just like does wrestling in Germany
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I don't know, but I need to do some more research. Just creep on her Instagram a little bit
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I was doing that a little yesterday. Oh, no, it's already started
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That means you're itching for it. Yeah. Yeah. So how does it feel being able to jump back in the win column
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your last couple of fights, it was the first time losing in your short MMA career
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And I know it's really hard to dig yourself out of that hole. And I know the feeling must have been even heavier getting that win after such a hard camp So tell me how you feeling after that Yeah I was definitely like I know that there was like a lot more pressure on me right now
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just because like having like two losses in a row, like it just was eating away at me
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and then having to take so much time off like this first fight
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I'm just like, you guys know I have not been the most pleasant at all times because of that
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Probably a little bit. It was really nice. And what's funny is like after the fight was over, it was just like, I feel like maybe because it was so intense
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And then all the emotion of everything else that's happened in the last year
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Just like I wanted to start like break down and start crying
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And I was like trying to just not cry because I was just like it was like happy
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And then just like let it all go. Like I could just like move forward
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You know, it's like anytime you have a loss, I can't wait to just get back in there so I can just like get that out of my head
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Because otherwise, little things inside the fight like just replay in my head over and over again
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Like no matter what, just like catch myself drifting off thinking about, oh, I should have done this or I should have done this
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I need to be better here and there. So like to have another fight can kind of like get me past that one
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Nice. Sure. I'm sure your experience in in jiu jitsu being able to compete so consistently and just write any kind of wrongs there might be from a previous competition
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What do you think is the most valuable experience and learning from competing in jiu jitsu at such a high level to MMA
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I mean, I think it's just like dealing with the pressure. What's funny is I do feel like it was more pressure fighting in jujitsu than MMA
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It's like a weird thing. Like, you know, MMA is a little bit scarier because of things that can happen are a little bit like more, I don't know, intense
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But in jujitsu, it's like that everyone's really, really good at that one thing
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so like you're going up against people that are like just as good as you um maybe better at you
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know at this one aspect of the sport you know one thing and like specific things so um that pressure
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was like a lot and it gets my nerves going like way more and then you don't know who you're gonna
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you know it's a tournament format most of the time so you don't know which opponent you're gonna have until like maybe a week before so you can't really prepare for styles and things like
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that. So just having to like roll with it and deal, like, I think that was like really good
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experience for me. What was exactly like the moment where you decided I'm going, you know
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to shift my focus into MMA? What like really made you want to do that
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Um, I think there was a couple of things that actually like, cause you know, it was something
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I'd always wanted to do, but I thought, Oh, maybe it's just passed me by. I just like waited too
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long but there was a couple things that happened inside of like at a few jujitsu tournaments that
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just I was just like man I'm just tired of the politics I'm tired of doing the same thing every
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year I need a new um just a new goal something new to strive for and like something more exciting
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to deal with so I think that's what um after after I competed in ADCC I think that was like
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one of the final things for me because it was just like no matter what I do like I've accomplished
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everything that I think I want to accomplish inside of jiu-jitsu and um then there was just
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a few things that left like a bad taste in my mouth and I'm like okay it's time to like make
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some changes what happened at ADCC was it just winning or no I mean so like I will I lost at the
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actual tournament I won the trials and that was cool and I got ready but then there was just like
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just the politics and the nonsense that like go on like just throughout jujitsu it's like there's
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i mean it's and i think it's in every sport it's just really blatant and obvious inside of jujitsu
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um but just the things of uh that year actually it was i competed at nogi worlds ibgf worlds
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and i like every point that i scored somehow was given to my opponent and they just like took that
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whole like they took the match from me they took my championship from me and that was like i was
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like ah so then i'm going into adcc after that and like they're here that there's these bracket
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the brackets are set up this way and then all of a sudden they they changed the brackets they put me
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as like a the like the lowest seat on there even though i had like more accolade it was just like
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just nonsense just some like over and over again i'm like okay i'm just done with dealing with this
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Like it's the same thing and, you know, drama between teams and things like that, that I'm just, I was just over it
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And then you go to MMA where it's so calm and everyone gets along and there's no favoritism ever
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Yeah. It's a different thing though. Yeah. It's like, I don't know these people
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I don't have history with these people. So now I could have new history
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Yeah. But I mean, it was just, and there's new challenges too. It's like, you know, it's a different, every fight is, can be different, you know, in jujitsu, it's like, you know what you're getting into
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Is that why you think you're kind of leaning towards more striking in your fights
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Or do you think you just end up there because it's a fight more so than a jujitsu match
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Yeah, I think it's just because it's a fight. And I'm just, I'm like, my, I'm, I'm competitive
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I just want to win. And sometimes like, like when things are crazy, like, I mean, after the first round of the, of the fight, I was just like, I'm exhausted
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Like that was a lot. We did a lot. Like there was no breaks. There's no resting
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And I still got to do two more maybe. So I just definitely didn't want to like push to get a takedown or try and push it to the ground and then like, like gas myself out
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Like that's something that's in the back of the head. Like trying to take somebody down and not getting it is like probably the most exhausting thing ever
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So then I want to make sure that I could still like stay in it and keep myself safe
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What do you think you're the biggest thing that you can take away from this fight and then work towards in your in your next fight, even though it is a short amount of time
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What do you think that is that you can work on? I mean, I haven't even like really assessed that too much of that yet
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But I do know there's certain things with my footwork and there's a couple of things that started making more sense
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Just dealing with using my fans and stuff like that a little bit more to give myself rest when I need it
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Those are things that I definitely want to look at. I'm sure that there's a lot more. I know that my coaches have already talked about stuff that they want to work with me on
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So we'll see. but I'm like just trying to like recover right now from being sleep deprived and sick
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So what are you going to do now that you have some time off? I know you're going to run right
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back to the gym as soon as you're not sick anymore. But aside from that, you get to have
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a little fun right now. You get to, you know, let your body heal a little bit. What are you going to
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do to celebrate? I mean, right now, I'm just, like, hanging out with my dog because
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Cash really I mean Toast too but Cash really missed me so just like taking him to the park He literally howled at me this morning to wake me up to take him to the park like full howl and then
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yeah i don't know probably just like trying to just i wanted to get nice so i can go to the
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beach because that's what i've been missing no you missed the heat wave during fight week it was like
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80 years i know i was so mad the day we left it was so beautiful that's what i said i was like
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I'm leaving California when it gets nice to go to Florida where there's no beach
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I know. Yeah. How do you go to Florida and there's no beach? It's crazy. I know
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It's stupid. Why would you go? Did you enjoy fighting at Universal Studios
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It was weird because it was like the warm up area was in like a separate building from
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where the arena, like the cage was. Oh, yeah. So it's locked from one studio to another
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And it's like roller coasters going like literally right outside of where you're going
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There was like a senior night. So it was just like a million kids everywhere
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Oh, OK. Yeah, it was just like a weird thing to walk out of that
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And this is happening inside this huge park. And then not to mention the fact that it was freezing cold inside of the studio, like the arena
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My toes went numb. My feet were like white, white during the fight
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Yeah, it was crazy. Probably why your foot hurts. Kicking a cold mask with a cold foot
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It is probably true. The warmer barrier was better. It wasn't as cold as like the actual like arena, like where we were fighting
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It was crazy. It was freezing. I feel like Florida and Arizona both like are really, really heavily into air conditionings
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because like it's either really, really hot and really, really humid. So I feel like they're just like thinking about the fans and not necessarily the fighters
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We're like shivering that they like at the ceremonial way and it's like everybody's freezing
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they had like a door open so like you can stand out here until you have to go up for your like
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face off or whatever and then like as soon as we get done they're like you guys can get on the bus
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already you don't have to stay in the freezing cold so i know that they were trying to get them
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to turn the ac like up a little bit so it wasn't like so cold but i guess they didn't succeed at
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that yeah everyone was pissed about it like when we got there they were saying we're supposed to
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have this fixed yesterday but yeah did not did not i warned uh because jj wilson's fighting this
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friday so i warned him and i was like make sure you bring like warm socks maybe some foot warmers
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or something like that bring your uggs i would love to see jj and uggs oh my god yes he's still
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fitting he would be wearing the tiniest little shorts like so uh it it seems like and tell me if i'm wrong but it seems like pfl has kind of
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gotten their stuff together after putting bellator to bed it it felt kind of slapstick before when
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you would see like the backstage ongoing you would you didn't really know what time you had
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to show up. There was a lot of like craziness involved, but this fight week, from my perspective
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it seemed like they were a lot more organized. So how was it dealing with PFL this time around
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Yeah, I definitely felt like this week was a lot better than the last, like every
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my experience with them last year. So no, I was a lot happier with everything. Um, just felt
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organized it felt um just a little bit more um like care about the fight the athletes you know
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themselves so a little bit more thought put into that and I have to give a shout out to Terrell who
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was like my concierge for the week because that guy worked his butt off and he was so organized
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and had like I didn't have to worry about anything you tell me exactly here give me a little look up
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like uh heads up like i'll see you in like 10 minutes down in the lobby be ready for this and
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this and this like that was so nice right i don't want to have to think during fight week i'm trying
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to just like cut weight and like that's about it so he just like made sure i was good that's awesome
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you take it for granted when you go outside of the ufc because you've cornered me a bunch and
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you cornered cad and you were in bellador so yeah it's weird when you go outside the ufc and you see
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that that isn't the norm. Like people are usually on top of you. They're giving you a heads up
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They're like, hey, you're supposed to be down here. And you're like, oh, shoot. Okay, here I come
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But like other promotions, it's kind of hard to mimic that unless you have like a few reps under your belt
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So it seems like they're kind of getting it together now. Yeah, yeah, they are
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Thank God. So better late than never. Right? Yes, they're trying and that's all we can ask
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what do you think of the match-ups at the um for the next round have you looked at those at all
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well it's just what so it's me are yeah and then the on the other side of it so it's karmush and
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dana how do you think that fight's gonna go i honestly don't know like i don't know enough
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about the other girl like obviously i've trained with liz and i know her style and you know um i
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I think she'll come out on top of that one. The other girl seemed, looked a little green from what I saw in her fight
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But, you know, it's, you never know. A fight's a fight. So anything can happen
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She's a big Angela Hill fan. So she better watch out. Yeah
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You know what that means. Flying knee is a coming. well we do have some questions from uh from your fans uh one person
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cal call me spro said how is it tough being so cool i mean it's a really hard job to be this
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cool you know like it's like gotta keep up the appearances all that yes i mean it's tough on
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a bank account with all those sunglasses. Yeah, that's something my husband
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needs to worry about. Like, that's not coming out of my paycheck
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Yeah, this is why we married him, because I knew he had potential and he knew I was
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bougie and he knew I was high maintenance when he got involved, so that's on him
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Yeah, he has fancy taste, not you. He has fancy taste. Yeah, yeah
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Exactly. Cool. Well, we have another one. Oh, no. Do it
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Do it. Let me apologize beforehand. So I asked for questions off of the photo of you throwing that nice up kick to Kana's face
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And who's sorry a man or says how lucky she is to catch and touch Jenna's sexy and soft feet
22:20
I don't think that was a question. It's not a question. It's a statement
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But I feel like you need to look at my feet a little closer because they're not that cute
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Them es ain't soft either. I've caught them before. I've had a nice, like, a manicure before, so they're feeling pretty good
22:40
Okay. Okay. Yeah, maybe she did enjoy it. Maybe that's why she let you do it three times
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I know. She kept reaching in. I was like, wow, she trains a lot of jiu-jitsu or something
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She just stayed there. Why didn she learn after the first time Ooh so soft Ooh so soft Ooh yeah and it smells good too which i have to say thank you angie because you the one that screamed
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upkick and then i heard that from the crowd and i was like oh yeah do it yeah well i feel like
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everyone i feel like the whole corner was in awe that she was hanging her head there like yeah
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why is she doing that why is she staying there taking her technique it was confusing yeah sometimes you gotta state the obvious and
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yeah it was there and you threw it beautifully it was it was like i i wrote on your thing it's like
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that uh self-defense thing that your brothers teach you where you take the palm of your hand
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and you smash the nose into their skull yeah have you guys heard of that one like i don't even
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you know yeah water too like that or your eyes water like hits you hurts you bad yeah and then
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like the she turned around and it was all blood gushing down so yeah that perfect hit it was like
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immediate blood yeah yeah and that was great um okay one more question um uh frady harns
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ask a question this time he says how happy are you with the pfl if ufc called would you go
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I mean it's not like of course but that's not an option that's not how things work I feel like
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people ask me that all the time like what's next like no I'm under contract like I can't just leave
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and go anywhere else like I'm under contract and you know the PFL's not not making me mad right now
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so I'm happy yeah but yeah that's something it's like I think that's weird I feel like people don't
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understand how that that all works you know yeah yeah well um people are a little confused what's
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happening with dakota right now because she's not in the tournament and she seems to be kind of
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floating around testing things out but i don't think anybody's really sure i think she is gonna
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fight for the pfl again um but yeah we we do have one more question and i wasn't gonna ask but why
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not uh someone asked uh colo strom wants to know how do you think a fight between liz karmusch and
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dakota would go um i don't even know how i want to answer that question however you want
25:23
because you have your shades on because it's still saying it that is a really good striker and i think that that would be a really tough fight for liz
25:38
yeah nice liz's striking did look really good in this last fight but of course there's levels
25:46
to the game and matches make fight but i was i was impressed with her striking for this one
25:50
yeah yeah i thought she looked good on Friday yeah yeah i forgot to watch it and then we were
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all like oh yeah i was like what we i thought that it was it would have been over and then when we
26:01
looked i was like oh they're just starting yeah yeah was it late over there what was their uh what
26:07
was the start time and end time to the show the prelim started at nine the main card started at
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11 it was like really late yeah that's bedtime i was pretty sleepy at eight yeah i was supposed
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to start at like 8 30 i guess but then there's so many fights that fell off there was
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like everything got moved around so yeah pushed it back a little bit but it was a late time that
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was like one of the things i felt bad like if you looked at the comments on all the stuff leading up
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to it it's like why is this so late who starts fights this late like everybody was complaining
26:40
about that i'm like yeah i don't mind the late they're acting like it was overseas or something
26:45
yeah yeah it was it's weird i don't know but probably tv time slots and stuff that's probably
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of the thing that determines that well uh me and jess have you to thank not just for all the jujitsu
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that you've taught us and exposed us to by choking us the out but repeatedly repeatedly yeah
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but we also have you to thank for our twerk class because i never would have known about
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fitness if it wasn't for you so since you had to miss it when she came to san diego are you going
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to go to work somewhere as a celebration for your last one i want yes i want to find a class
27:31
it's so bad i was i like couldn't go to that one and i i will say i think it was like a good thing
27:39
that i had to miss that because it was so close to my fight and i knew i was going to be sore from
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that like because when we did that video dang I was so sore for like a week just working for like
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two hours and then that wasn't even a class so I know but you didn't have the technique
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yeah yeah she taught you how to do it right but it was still really horrible I'm on the lower back
28:04
yeah hopefully maybe I'll just I want to do like um like uh one of the online classes because
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there's not like a lot of really good options here in San Diego for like twerk classes so maybe we
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should just set up a a night we can like just go to the gym right for a class there you need a mirror
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though like we need someone with a nice big mirror yeah a mirror is important you like really have to
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like yeah connect with the glutes with the booty meat our own room like studio and do a class there Yes
28:40
Yeah. We should do that. That'll be great. Yeah. There's got to be
28:44
I feel like Chelsea knows some classes or some like dance rooms or something
28:48
Oh, yeah. Yeah. There's plenty around. Nice. Well, we will be looking forward to that
28:57
Thanks for your time. I know you're still sick and everything healing up
29:01
So we'll let you get back to that and color with your dog. Can you show the viewers cash real quick
29:06
They love dogs. A lot of dog lovers. Oh, I thought that was a pillow
29:12
Oh, there he is. No, he's here. You know he was secretly rooting for Kana because he's Japanese
29:21
I know. He's not. He's not. He's Japanese-American, okay? Well, thank you so much for your time
29:35
Thank you. where can everyone follow you for Instagram and all that other stuff
29:42
Instagram Jenna Bishop BJJ that's probably like the most where I'm at the most
29:48
do you want to shout out any sponsors or anything shout out Hyperfly
29:54
my favorite I'm actually wearing that right now oh nice the best training gear
30:02
and everything else and Garger Grill best mouth guards yes like legit
30:09
hands down no cap on that yeah no I stopped getting dropped
30:14
when I started wearing those yeah and he keep my mouth tight yes good nice
30:23
all right well we'll let you get back to your recovery enjoying your victory
30:28
and we will celebrate with you soon all right bye bye Bye
#Combat Sports
#Martial Arts