Fallon Fox – I Am Turning Pro For The Competition

Fallon Fox - photo by Brent Todd

Fallon Fox will be making her pro debut on Thursday, May 17th at King of the Cage against Elisha Helsper. She trains out of the Midwest Training Center and is one of the most promising up and coming women’s fighters in the midwest. MMARecap caught up with Fox to talk about her career, moving to pro and more.

How are things going tonight?
Going pretty good.

You are making your pro debut against Elisha Helsper at King of the Cage in Idaho. What do you know about her?
I know that she has some pretty decent standup. Mostly from Tae Kwon Do and Muay Thai. I am not so sure about her ground work. That’s all I know from what I have heard and seen.

She seems to take a fight every couple of years. Her last fight was against Zoila Gurgel. Do you think there will be an issue of ring rust for her?
Probably, but from what I have seen she has been doing some competitive combative work. I guess we will find out.

You are turning pro, what led to the decision to turn pro?
All of my three amateur fights I have had ended fairly quickly. Under a minute fifteen seconds for each one I do believe. I am not getting too much competition and I want to up the level.

You fought at 145, won a title, you fought at 140 and won a title, now this fight is at 135. Talk to us about the decision to drop down to this weight class.
There’s a lot more competition in 135 than 145. The numbers seem to be dwindling for 145. And 135 is also in Strikeforce.

I know you are extremely decorated in jiu jitsu and have been training it for years. Where did you train at before you switched to MTC?
I started out at Champion Jiu Jitsu. I trained there for about 2-2.5 years, training every day. I didn’t have to work too much at that point. I trained and competed, trained and competed.

What lead to you transitioning from doing just jiu jitsu to becoming an mma fighter?
That was my ultimate goal; to become an mma fighter. Ever since I saw Megumi Fuji like four years ago and I was really inspired. She’s an idol of mine. Never met her, but I like her ground work. I knew I wanted to have a strong ground background.

I have to commend you in that you took your time learning the aspects of the sport to make yourself a better fighter.
Thanks.

You won Naga, so what was that like?
That was awesome. I got my win for the belt, mostly through takedowns. But I felt really good and haven’t competed in jiu jitsu since then as I have been focusing on the mma aspect of the sport.

You are MTC which has a great base of fighters such as Will Brooks, Dan Stittgen, what’s it like training with these guys who have come up through the gym?
All of them are awesome. There’s a couple of women there as well, Mary Skoniecna is the female I train with for standup. The rest of the guys are really good on the ground. Dennis works with me a lot on my ground game. Alex Trujilo is my main coach and hearing his voice while I am in the cage and training helps out a lot. I always get lots of help from the guys?

Any sponsors or people you want to thank?
Bodylock, they have some great designs. Alex Trujilo, Joe Smith, Mary Skoniecna, everyone I train with, my girlfriend Kathryn Sanborn, my daughter for putting up with my mood swings and you guys at MMARecap.