It’s been over four years since we’ve written a article about Shayna Baszler. It’s not that we don’t respect her tremendous ability to administer beatdowns on humanity — it’s just that ever since her final Strikeforce fight against Sarah Kaufman, the Queen of Spades sort of fell off the radar. It wasn’t until last year’s signing with Invicta did Baszler’s name resurface in the MMA lexicon.
On this week’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter, Team Rousey’s Shayna Baszler went up against the relatively unknown Team Tate’s Julianna Pena and one of the greatest upsets in TUF history happened: Baszler not only lost, but was submitted by Pena.
Since the episode aired, Baszler decided to blog about her defeat on The MMA Corner and it appears that she’s just a little bitter about how the entire bout went down.
Julianna showed up that day and fought for her life. I didn’t. Bottom line. Like her or not, she fought for her life at a time when I felt she didn’t even deserve to be in the cage with me. I still to this day say 99 out of 100 times, I win this fight. She just happened to do whatever it took to have her 1/100 happen on that day. The most frustrating part of all of this being that all the new fans of WMMA and of the QoS will only hate because I was so confident going into this fight, it comes off as arrogant. Julianna Pena is not better than the Queen of Spades. But many will believe it after this…foolish mortals.I was devastated. Over 11 years of work. Of fighting for gas money. And here it is, what I finally deserve. And I couldn’t get up??? WTF? It’s over. My shot. I still say I was the best female in that house. And for whatever reason, I didn’t fight like it. Watch it again, people. I had zero urgency. And I would pay for that by losing to arguably the girl with the least amount of technique in the house. If there’s one thing that all of you in the Queen’s Army should take from this, it’s how far the need to fight for your life can take you. And nothing can really make you feel better during a time like this. Of course, there’s a long season left. And anything can happen, and I should stay ready…but none of that helps the way you feel right then after the fight in the locker room.
So Ronda took me out of the locker room and into the lobby of the gym. They showed a small part of our conversation, but they didn’t show the parts that were the most important to me. She said, “Shayna, this isn’t the only way to get what you want, it’s just one way. And, honestly, for you, it isn’t even the best way.” She told me that the reason I was her No. 1 pick wasn’t just because she believed I would win, but because I was her biggest threat on the show, and it’s wise to keep me close. I looked straight at her and said, “You will see me across the cage from you.” She replied, “I know I will,” with 100 percent belief, “…..and I will beat the shit out of you.” We laughed. It was huge that as a potential rival for her belt one day, she was completely understanding. In this sport, more than any other sport, the best fighter does not always win. That’s the simple truth. And it’s why so many love this sport.
Of course, ‘some people’ is just another way to externalize our own thoughts on MiddleEasy. The cat is out the bag, and it’s ripping up the sofa cushion. Props to El Ayatollah for the +100 news tip.
