Sarah Goodlaxson Interview

Photo Credits:
Photos 3-5: David Lee Hamp


A little grudge always makes a fight more exciting. Especially when that grudge has been building for two years. At Total Warrior Combat's next even on January 19th a two year grudge comes to a head as Sarah Goodlaxson takes on Jen Aniano. I got the opportunity to interview Sarah to get the "Piranha's" version of how their mutual dislike started and her thoughts on the upcoming fight.

Q:You had taken time off for school and everything, did you plan on coming back now or was it just the opportunity to fight Jen?
A: No, I didn't plan on coming back. I was planning on finishing school out and graduating. I was gonna try and train as much as I could but I just missed it too much. I was getting fat haha, I wasn't happy with myself and was unmotivated to workout. Going from training to trying to just run on a treadmill or workout by yourself just doesn't work. I was completely unmotivated. It was a combination of my school taking longer than I thought and I was bored and missed everything. I decided to come back and got ahold of the promotion, TWC, and they asked Jen to fight me. They asked if I wanted to fight Jen and I said "yes". That's what happened.

Q: You were supposed to fight her in 2010 but had to withdraw due to an injury, what was the extent of the injury?
A: I tore some ligaments in the same ankle I had broken before so it was scary and not cool. It happened on a Wednesday and the fight was that Saturday. The next day i was trying to roll and couldn't put any pressure on it. I was sparring with my boyfriend when it happened and he heard my ankle crack, and I fell down crying. He told me later "at that moment I knew you weren't gonna fight, I saw it happen, I heard it happen, I knew it was over". It was so stupid, we were being careful, going light, moving around and getting warmed up and my ankle gave out. It is one of those things where opponents think someone is scared and she thought I was scared. I know how pissed you would be if you go through a whole camp and something happens so I was trying to be nice and let her know it was a legitimate injury, but it is what it is.

Q: After that you said she didn't believe you and even texted your boyfriend to see if it was real...
A: Yes, her exact text was "is your girl really hurt or is she just being a bitch" haha, that was the exact text.

Q: What was your reaction to that?
A: I was pissed. I was angry and kind of shocked because I wasn't making it up, I wouldn't make it up. I have had a lot of girls back out of fights with me before, so I went through the trouble of letting the promoter know myself and let her know. It wasn't like "tell them I'm not gonna fight", I let them know myself. I did everything possible to do the right thing in a crappy situation. That is what started us not liking each other, that text message ticked me off.

Q: In your Examiner interview you said she made excuses not to fight you, then she did an Examiner interview and said you backed out of three opportunities to fight her, what is your response to that?
A: I don't really know what she is talking about. I know one time it was some kind of January fight at the Palace. I had been asking for a really long time to fight her. At that point I was going back to school and not training and everyone knew it. I was asked to fight Jen and said "no, I am going to school." She told everyone I backed out of a fight. maybe it was some kind of miss-communication, I don't know, but this is how it's been for two years with her, weird weird stuff she will say. Not to long ago, I offered her a kickboxing match which she declined and said she doesn't do kickboxing, we are both 0-0, both small, it makes sense, I thought it was a good idea. Then I saw her coach at weigh-ins for a kickboxing fight and said "what is the deal, you guys made excuses for two years, what is going on?" Her coach said "there is a show in two weeks, you can fight her if you want to." I said "yeah o.k. let me talk to my coach and see how it goes." I wasn't training, wasn't doing anything, no way I could get my cardio up so my coach said no and to wait till is tart training again. That is probably what she is talking about, but other than that, no clue.

Q: When you go into a fight with so much dislike, do you have to remind yourself to stick to a game-plan and not let that anger take over?
A: Yeah definitely! I am not gonna pull a Miesha Tate versus Ronda Rousey where Miesha was all ticked off and emotional seeing red. That is not what we train to do, you don't wanna fight mad and with emotion. As soon as I found out I was fighting her I just became indifferent. I don't like her, I don't dislike her, if I saw her on the street I would give her a head nod. That is how I need to feel. It is too much energy to really dislike someone, too much work, so indifference is good haha.

Q: No secret, she is at her best on the ground, if it goes there are you confident you can hang with her?
A: Yeah, I expect it, especially in the first, to go to the ground. I am not sugar coating it in my head. I know where she wants it to go, chances are it is probably gonna go there. It is what it is and I am preparing for everything. There is nothing she can do that would surprise me.

Q: If it stays standing, can she hang with you?
A: No! Haha, I don't know what else to say.

Q: You train at her former gym, does that give you any advantage?
A: I feel like we probably know her better than she knows me. In her interview she said I purposely came here just to train with her old team because of her. Maybe it gives me an edge. I am pretty comfortable going in. I don't know if there has ever been an opponent I have known so much about. Maybe that isn't a good thing, you never know.

Q: Is there a key to you winning?
A: It would be great if I could break her. She is really tough. She is good at being tough. She is strong-willed. She can grind a fight out for three rounds if she needs to. If I could break her, that is what everyone wants to do to an opponent. Make my game-plan happen.

Q: Do you have a prediction?
A: Well, I predict I win haha.

Q: After this, any idea what you want next?
A: I am not trying to look past this fight, I have wanted it for two years. I have fights lined up and will be busy.

Q: Anyone you want to thank?
A: My coach and my team. I don't have any sponsors right now.