MMA On The Rise: Felice Herrig “Now I Can Call Myself an MMA Fighter”

Felice Herrig

After a disappointing start to her MMA career, Felice Herrig has persevered and now she’s on the verge of quite possibly her biggest year yet.

Already a familiar face on the combat sports circuit, Herrig lost her first two bouts by split decision. Being the determined person she is, she recognized her problems and has won four of her last five fights.

“I was frustrated,” admitted Herrig. “I was already a pro kickboxer/Muay Thai fighter when I entered MMA, and already had a name from ‘Fight Girls,’ so a lot of girls already knew how to fight me, how to beat me.

“All the girls did was push me up against the cage (in my first two fights), and I knew that it was just a matter of time (before I adjusted). I know the kind of athlete and the kind of person that I am, and I have that no quit attitude.”

With the help of Team Curran, Herrig has become a complete fighter out of necessity in order to succeed in MMA.

“Girls don’t want to strike with me, so I knew what I needed to be good at was my wrestling and jiu-jitsu; my grappling,” she told MMAWeekly.com. “The rate that I’ve been growing at (with Team Curran) has just been crazy.

“I just needed somebody to actually teach me and here, every single day, I have an opportunity to train day and night. People think of me mainly as a striker, but now I’m well-rounded and I can call myself an MMA fighter.”

Herrig was able to display her evolution with a dominant win over Nicaldi Rivera-Calanoc at XFO 39 on May 13.

“The fight wasn’t even close, actually,” stated Herrig. “She tried to pin me up against the cage, wrestle me, and take me down; that was her game plan, and I beat her at her own game.

“I beat her in the clinch, I took her down every single round, and I was in dominant positions the whole time. I got the better of the striking, and everything I threw landed. The fight wasn’t even close. It was 30-27 on all the judges’ scorecards in my favor.”

Not only inside the cage is Herrig excelling, but she’s also about to invade the video game world as a part of Supremacy MMA for PS3 and Xbox 360.

“Michelle (Gutierrez) and I are the first real female fighters to be featured in an MMA video game,” commented Herrig. “It’s scheduled to come out in June and it’s going to be great.”

With her hectic schedule, Herrig is going to take a break before returning to action later this year.

“I’ve been doing so much for this video game that it’s hard to do all these things while you’re doing training camp, so I kind of want to be a person for a little bit,” she said.

“I’ve been fighting for eight years now, and I average five to six fights a year, so I want to take some time off, but after that I’ll start taking offers.”

Herrig’s recent success continues to prove that it’s not how you start something, but how you end it that counts.

“Basically, if you don’t know me now, over this next year you’re going to get to know me real quick, because I’m going to be everywhere.”