Bellator 172's Brooke Mayo on stoppage: 'I just feel as women we're kind of treated differently'

Brooke Mayo had less than a minute left on the clock in her pro debut before a doctor’s assessment rendered her unable to continue.

Sporting a swollen and purple left eye, a distraught Mayo (0-1 MMA, 0-1 BMMA) could be seen on Bellator 172’s Spike-televised main card pleading for her fight with Veta Arteaga (2-1 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) to go on.

“I can see,” she repeated. “I can see.”

But it was a no-go. After nearly three full rounds of a highly entertaining flyweight battle at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., Mayo was off to a 0-1 start to her professional MMA career.

Four days after the scrap, the swelling from the hematoma has subsided, ad the pride of putting on such a tough performance has grown. But Mayo still has trouble digesting the way it was cut short.

“I’m still going to be upset about it,” Mayo, who confirmed she suffered no broken bones, told MMAjunkie. ” … I’ve watched MMA for a while now, and I’ve watched other fights. And even in the (Bellator 172) prelims, I saw my friend, and his eye got completely cut open in the same area as my eye, and he ended up getting a bunch of stitches and all that, and they let him continue to fight.

“So I just feel as if – this is just my opinion and, not trying to bash anybody or to blame anybody, but I just feel as women we’re kind of treated differently.”

To that, Mayo added a politely put but incisive question.

“And would you have done that to a man?” Mayo pondered. “Like, would you have done that to (Matt) Mitrione (who fought through a broken orbital bone at UFC Fight Night 81)?”

Hey guys.. I can see ?????????? #TeamBlack #KurtOsianderJiuJitsu #RGSF #MMA #WMMA #nogutsnoglory #icansee #justabruise #BellatorMMA #flyweight #sorrymom

A post shared by Brooke Mayo (@bmayo1313) on Feb 20, 2017 at 6:01pm PST

Mayo was not alone in her doubt; in addition to many Bellator 172 viewers, other female fighters have wondered the same thing. While that question is too complex for a simple yes or no answer, Mayo’s frustration with having what turned out to be “just a bruise” stop what, in her opinion, could’ve been a favorable decision remains (via Instagram):

Fight didn't go the way I wanted it to tonight for my debut but I showed heart and gave it my all. I didn't want them to stop the fight. I really wanted to continue to fight and am bummed that it was stopped. No excuses though. There were things I could have done better and I made some mistakes. overall I'm happy I got in there and gained the experience even though I lost. Props to my opponent Veta Arteaga for showing a ton of heart and for having a great performance. You have a ton of heart and Im glad we got to scrap. Thank you everyone that messaged me and reached out to me about the fight. I'm doing fine. I went to the doctor and found out my my eye is just bruised. Thank you to all of my sponsors for the continued support. I really appreciate you guys supporting me through my career. Thank you to my family and friends for buying tickets and tuning in to support me for my pro debut. Thank you @nickpica00 for loving me and being there for me. Thank you to my coaches @danblack420 @kurtosiander and @alan_guapo for cornering me! You guys are the best! Thank you to all of my @teamblackmma and Ralph Gracie Jiu Jitsu teammates for pushing me and helping me grow. Thank you most of all @bellatormma for giving Veta and I the opportunity to fight on television and show the world what the women's #flyweight division is all about. #TeamBlack #KurtOsianderJiuJitsu #RGSF #MMA #WMMA #DCSolar #DeltaTacticalTraining #Knoxx #LanasEggwhites #ActionProGear #KindersBBQ #Ziggys209 #HagaGear #Fightletics #HelpUSave

A post shared by Brooke Mayo (@bmayo1313) on Feb 18, 2017 at 11:20pm PST

But frustrated doesn’t mean bitter. At the end of the day, there’s only so much Mayo could control in there. And in spite of the outcome, she takes pride in stepping up to the plate on a huge stage and, along with her counterpart, helping put on a hell of a show.

“Even though it wasn’t what I wanted, at least I got respect, and fans, people that want to see more,” Mayo said. “So overall (it was) completely positive, I think we proved a lot of people wrong, on both sides.”

When Mayo talks about “proving people wrong,” she refers to those who questioned whether she and Arteaga, both sporting few pro bouts, had earned their right to be where they were.

From her online and offline experience in the lead-up to fight, the doubters were numerous. But if they wanted to deter her, it seems like the opposite effect was achieved.

“That really motivated me a lot, just as a female athlete,” Mayo said. “I just felt like there was a lot of like, ‘Oh, she doesn’t deserve it,’ I heard a lot of that stuff. That got me really fired up, and I think that was like, ‘No, we deserve this.’ It wasn’t just even talking specifically about me. They just said these two girls, Veta only having three pro fights and me not having any pro fights.

“I was just like, ‘You know what? We both freaking deserve it.’ At the end of the day, we had twice the amount of heart that half of those guys had on our pinky fingers. I’m ot trying to bash anybody, but that’s how I felt about. We fought with such courage and heart. And I think that’s what the fans want to see. They don’t want to see people shy away from the contact or shy away from getting in there and going head to head with somebody.”

Mayo was also happy to dismantle concerns of a possible mismatch against the more experienced opponent. In spite of coming in with a clean pro record, Mayo is certainly glad she paid no mind to those who advised against taking the high-profile spot that night.

“A lot of people were like, ‘Why are you taking this fight right now? She’s had a couple pro fights. You haven’t had any,'” Mayo said. “A lot of people advised me to not take that matchup because, ‘That’s a tough fight. You can take that one later.’

“I was worried I wasn’t going to get a fight at all. Because there’s a lot of debuters. Apparently I don’t know if this is true or not, but I was having trouble getting matched with another debuter. So I was like, ‘No, let’s do it, let’s make it happen, and let’s make it exciting.'”

‘Don’t have any clue about what I’ve been through’

Speaking from experience, Mayo is rather open in addressing the gaps in treatment that, in spite of all the advances made thus far, female fighters still face when compared to their male counterparts.

“You know what was really telling about the differences?” Mayo said. “It’s the fact that I was reading some of the comments. You can help but read. A lot of people were like, ‘Oh, she’s attractive, so any attractive fighter is going to get hosed.’ Or, ‘Any attractive fighter that’s being pushed into MMA or whatever, that person is weak.’ They were almost relating my appearance to what’s on the inside. And it’s just like, you don’t have any clue about what I’ve been through or who I am.

Veta Arteaga

“Veta is a pretty girl too. Just because we’re pretty or attractive or we get ourselves ready for press stuff, that doesn’t mean that you should treat us any differently. And it’s funny because it ended up  the opposite was true. We ended up having 20 times the heart and determination that some of those dudes had. And that’s what was frustrating, hearing those things. We’re still this far behind that we’re going to say she’s feminine, she’s cute, because she’s weak? That’s crazy to me.”

The implications of being a female fighter weren’t restricted to public opinion, as Mayo came to find out the hard way since she started perfecting her martial arts training three-and-a-half years ago.

“I have been in and out of a bunch of gyms,” Mayo said. “Because, for different reasons, people, if you’re a woman, they kind of want to show you, they want to kind beat you down a little bit because of the whole you-don’t-deserve-to-be-here, you’re-a-woman-type of thing. That’s what made me very tough. I was tough before, but I think that toughened me up even more.”

Nevertheless, Mayo persisted. Even when that meant having to explain to her somewhat-concerned sister during a gym visit that she was actually OK with throwing up during a sparring session after her training partner kept kicking her in the belly.

Mayo’s display on Saturday certainly makes a case for that. While she was finding most of her success with her takedowns and ground game, Mayo was also more than willing than eat the punches that Arteaga seemed to be landing clean in her face – the same ones that had “buckled and wobbled” Anastasia Yankova months prior.

While she felt and respected Arteaga’s power, Mayo said she simply didn’t think any of those strikes were about to put her out. But she knows that her ultimately praised gameness is a double-edged sword.

“It’s one of my biggest strengths and also one of my biggest weaknesses, as a fighter and as a person,” Mayo said with a laugh. “Because when I first came into the gym, that was a thing there, like, it’s cool that you want to stand toe-to-toe with 200-pound dudes, but you need to actually care about getting hit.

“I think in the heat of the battle, your fighter instincts kick in. For the first couple of rounds, I was trying to stay a little to be more aware and trying to move and be more evasive, but then the instincts kicked in. My default set in, and I was like, ‘Push forward and dig through it, come at me.'”

‘Sometimes my rest day is a 14-hour workday’

Mayo’s openness to take damage can impact her everyday life. While it’s not uncommon for fighters to have other, less-violent jobs, Mayo has one that directly involves getting her face out there: She’s a part-time flight attendant for a private airline.

So far, Mayo’s only issue had been a black eye that was resolved with some makeup. Her most recent bruise, of course, would have probably taken a little more than concealer to cover up, but figuring she shouldn’t take chances on her big pro debut, she took the month off. When she got a post-fight call from her understanding supervisor asking if she needed some extra time to heal up before she’s due to return early March, she declined.

But Mayo said her “hustle” is no different than the ones of so many other athletes who still need other forms of making ends meet.

“It’s tough sometimes to balance it,” Mayo said. “Because at the end of the day, I have to pay the bills and all that. Especially in amateur, there would be days where I would fight on Saturday and I’d still fly a 14-day on Sunday. It’s definitely tough. Sometimes my rest day is a 14-hour workday. It’s definitely hard to balance it.

“But you figure out how to make it work. And I know there’s a lot of other fighters who have jobs like that too, where they work a 10-hour workday.”

As far as her in-cage future goes, Mayo is resolute. The flyweight knows she has adjustments to make after her loss and, “still at the infancy” of her MMA career, sees some self-evaluating to do.

But after getting through the overwhelming experience of a highly watched and scrutinized debut on the big stage, Mayo, who’s already back at the gym, is eager to keep racking up the mat time, and, hopefully, the chances to show her evolution on the big stage.

“I hope they want to put me back in there,” Mayo said. “I don’t know what Bellator is thinking in regard to me right now. Hopefully I scored some bonus points, being brave enough to take that fight and also being brave enough to just be on the main card and fighting in front of that many people. I hope they’re going to use me. I hope they have plans for me to fight again soon, because I’m not hurt or injured.

“I’m ready to go back in there as soon as possible. I think that I’ll be able to correct those mistakes that were made, and there’s also partially just performing in a different environment, understanding how to manage your emotions and how you deal with the whole crowd and all of that stuff. I think next time around, I’ll naturally be a little more comfortable. But I think I’m ready to get back in there as soon as possible and hopefully do it again as soon as I can.

For complete coverage of Bellator 172, check out the MMA Events section of the site.