Yana Kunitskaya will rematch Tonya Evinger in the main event of Invicta FC 22 on
March 25th 2017. The pair last met on Invicta Fighting Championships 20 with the fight
seeing Kunitskaya walking out with a controversial win. The match saw some
miscommunication between the referee and Evinger which resulted in the match being
declared as a No Contest by the Missouri athletic commission. Now Kunitskaya will enter the
cage again looking to repeat her disputed and overturned win at Invicta FC 20. She took
some time off and answered questions about personal and professional life.
What got you into MMA? Who was your influence? What is your combat
sport background?
I started when I was 4 years old and my background was taekwondo, I have a black belt
and I was Russian champion. I was raised in a small city and my choices for sport were
limited so then i moved to a bigger city Saint Petersburg. Once i finished studying,St
Petersburg which is known as the capital of MMA in Russia,at that time i was 17 and i had an
invitation to a MMA show (BadDog) fight and i saw a lot of great fighters like Fedor
Emelianenko, and there were a couple of women fights and I liked it and decided to get into
this sport, after almost one year from this show i was fighting in the same place for bushido
MMA show
Did people around you support the decision of taking this sport as a
career? Who would you like to credit for your success?
I started when I was 4 years old and my background was taekwondo, I have a black belt
and I was Russian champion. I was raised in a small city and my choices for sport were
limited so then i moved to a bigger city Saint Petersburg. Once i finished studying,St
Petersburg which is known as the capital of MMA in Russia,at that time i was 17 and i had an
invitation to a MMA show (BadDog) fight and i saw a lot of great fighters like Fedor
Emelianenko, and there were a couple of women fights and I liked it and decided to get into
this sport, after almost one year from this show i was fighting in the same place for bushido
MMA show
What challenge have you faced in your journey? What is the most difficult
part about being a fighter? What motivates you to move forward?
The hardest thing was to arrange time between fighting and training and full time jobs
as MMA wasn’t profitable like now, and when I met my husband and became pregnant I
stopped fighting for 4 years and during this time women MMA change and it got much better
which motivated me to comeback.
Did people around you support the decision of taking this sport as a career? Who would you like to credit for your success?
Back in this day’s most of
Russian weren’t open about
women MMA if not against it,
and mostly when they know that
it’s my sport they used to try to
explain why its bad for girls..etc,
but other fighters used to support
and motivate me
Does being a mother affect your game or strength in any way? The way you
have it continued to chase your dream is praise worthy. What is your message
to women who stop working after marriage and child birth?
Being a mother increased my strength mentally and physically but made it harder to
organize time between working and training and taking care of my son
I think they should just listen to their heart and no one else if they feel like they need to
go back to work then do it and if they felt that stop working better for them then no one can
blame them
One of the most discussed topics today is fighter pay. What is your stand
on the situation? What are your thoughts on fighter union?
Yes I think it should be increased as the sport’s getting very popular and it’s affecting all
the fighters life and future as it’s pushing the health to be in risk most of the time.
You won your fight against Tonya Evinger on Invicta FC 20. The match
was later turned into a no contest, due to miscommunication between referee
and Tonya. Thoughts on the situation? What did you go through after winning
the match? When the match was turned, how did you feel?
I think it doesn’t make any since as I was going to finish the armbar any way and I’m
not sad or mad about it as i don’t care much about record I care more about the fights and
I’m doing in it and after this fight I got a lot of good feedback and new fans from the US and
from all over the world
Evinger seems pretty confident that she will beat you at Invicta FC 22. Do
you feel pressurized? Are you sure you’ll be able to beat her again? What is your
message to Evinger?
I don’t care about how she feels, I care more to make my win clear this time to everyone
so she can’t find any excuse to change the fight result after I go back home
What is your message for every person who wants to take MMA as a
career?
MMA is a one man show to become a star and you should be one of the top 20 in the
world, if you believe that you can then work hard to deserve it and to earn your confidence.
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