Michelle Waterson (9-3) is getting ready to take on Lacey Schuckman (7-5) at Invicta FC 3 this Saturday. BJPenn.com caught up with her before the bout.

How hard has it been preparing for this fight?

The training was pretty intense last week. I peaked out last week and it was perfect. We jumped in to the weight cut and of course you get a little weak. At the weigh-ins you replenish and then it’s fight time. I love what I do.

Have you given up training traditional martial arts now that you are an MMA fighter?

I don’t train traditional martial arts that much at all because training for a fight takes so much more of my time. You have to train so hard in all aspects so I don’t have time for things like katas and stuff like that. Sometimes between fights I can go train traditional martial arts. Actually coach Wink and coach Mike have incorporated some of the traditional stuff in to my arsenal. They took some of the things that work and we kept them.

Being that you are from Greg Jackson’s and with all of the negativity that has come from Dana White over the incident with Jon Jones, does it affect you?

I think that all of us are really good at blocking out the negative and taking in the positive. Coach Jackson is such a great coach and he’s in the spotlight for a reason. He doesn’t mind taking the heat for us fighters. That’s what great coaches do.

What is it like for you with Invicta as compared to other organizations in the past?

I’m excited that it’s an all female card and we’re able to bring as much publicity to it as we can. It just goes to show you that female fighters are entertaining and can put on a good show. The card is stacked and it is real exciting to be able to compete on this platform as an athlete. I hope it grows bigger and bigger. I hope the UFC does get female fighters. If not, Invicta is such a great platform like I said. We may be on the same level as the UFC and we’ll be the female card. Why do we have to feel like we need the UFC if we can bring that kind of fighting to Invicta.

Being that women’s MMA is just now exploding, how hard is it to be a fighter right now?

I think you have to have a lot of patience and sacrifice a lot and sometimes that means getting an extra job to pay those bills. It also means promoting yourself more than say a normal fighter would have to. Those are the things I choose to do to make things happen.

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