Invicta FC’s Stephanie Eggink Gives Her Thoughts On TUF 20, The P4P Best Fighter And The Success Of WMMA- Exclusive (Part 3 of 3)

Stephanie Eggink will fight for the Invicta FC strawweight title on Sep. 6 at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo. The event will be streamed on UFC Fight Pass and feature 3 title fights.

I got the chance to interview Eggink ahead of her fight. Here’s the third and final part of our conversation where she gives her thoughts on some of the biggest topics in MMA.

Part 3- Hot Topic Questions

Q: WMMA has exploded. What are your thoughts on the seemingly sudden mainstream popularity? Why now?

A: “Yes…it has exploded in good ways and bad ways. On one hand you have amazing athletes getting attention, and on the other hand you have girls who want to pose in MMA gloves and bikinis for attention. And unfortunately that line is very thin right now. I think, just like in men’s MMA, over time those who are not elite will get weeded out, and only those who are true athletes and in it for the sport will be at the top. Look at men’s MMA 10 years ago vs now, there’s a huge difference in the type of athlete you see in the cage.”

Q: There are still people who make comments about how WMMA shouldn’t be compared to men’s MMA. I think the most recent is probably Mark Bocek.

(Here’s some of what he said)

“But that’s the direction it’s heading. Girls like Ronda, people know who that is over Cain Velasquez. I think women’s MMA is great, I just didn’t think it should be compared to male’s MMA, just because I think it’s different. And I have nothing against women’s MMA like people think, all I was getting at was, if you want to do women’s MMA that’s great, why not just have a women’s MMA league? The events changed for me once they were having female MMA events where you had someone who had been doing judo their whole life, say, fighting a Marine who started training two years ago. That’s not the same talent of depth. It’s not too difficult to confuse people, because let’s face it, there’s a sucker born every minute, right?”

Care to give your thoughts? Right now you’re fighting in a women’s only promotion so how do you feel about his comments? Should the two genders be separate?

A: “I agree with him that the talent pool is not as deep, it’s much newer than men’s MMA. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t amazing female athletes in the sport right now. I don’t agree with his comment about the difference in amount of time training. MMA is a new enough sport that really nobody who is at the top right now was doing it when they were a kid. You might have trained in certain aspects of the sport since you were young, BJJ, wrestling or boxing for example, but that doesn’t give you an unbeatable edge over your opponent in MMA competitions. It’s a diverse sport with many aspects.”

Q: The new season of The Ultimate Fighter, will you be watching? Do you know any of the girls on the show?

A: “No I will not. I don’t care for that show. And yes I know almost all of them, I have actually fought some of the girls on the show.”

Q: In your opinion who is the pound for pound best fighter right now?

A: Jon jones is a freak of nature, I would say he probably takes the prize for pound for pound best fighter. He also may be tied with Jose Aldo, I love Aldo’s style, and he is one of my favorite people to watch.”

Q: Care to add anything else?

A: Thank you to everyone who has supported me this camp, my teammates, my family and my friends. Thank you to my manager Anthony Hopkins who keeps things rolling for me when I can’t. And, thank you to the following sponsors: Ambersports Gear, AmericanaMMA, CNP Performance, SportsFood Inc., Trimnutrition,

Thanks to Stephanie Eggink for the great interview!

By Ryan Miller | Twitter