Photo credit to BoxingScene.com
Amanda Serrano: 100% submission rate and champion boxer
Amanda Serrano is a boxing world champion across seven weight divisions but also has a one hundred percent submission rate. This flawless finishing metric extends across both MMA and Jiu-Jitsu competitions for Serrano.
Amanda Serrano said, “Oh yeah. I mean, for a boxer it’s pretty cool to have that. I mean, I never thought that I would be an MMA fighter. Let alone have a 100% submission rate. It’s pretty funny but it’s cool. It feels just as great as a knockout.”
Additional excerpts from my recent conversation with Amanda Serrano can be found by scrolling below.
Amanda Serrano
If the Valentina Garcia win at iKon 7 was as comprehensive of a performance as possible
“Yeah, I mean in MMA, I want to be a complete MMA fighter. I just don’t want to be known for my striking you know. I am a Boxer, a seven-division World Champion. So I want to be able to go into MMA and learn all the craft. It is the mixed martial arts. So I want to be able to know how to do everything and to be a complete MMA fighter. And it’s funny because most of my jiu-jitsu submissions were guillotines. So it brought me right back to doing the jiu-jitsu tournaments.”
The first moment that MMA emerged as a possibility for Amanda Serrano
“I filmed a movie years ago with Miesha Tate, Cris Cyborg, Holly Holm. We filmed a movie, me and my sister with them. We talked about it and I still was like I don’t know, I don’t think I’m gonna do MMA. Because it’s a lot of work and usually the MMA fighters start when they’re really young with at least one other martial art. So we talked about it and then we had an opportunity. We said you know what, let’s try it and we tried it. It was like two months before my first fight that I actually went into the dojo and actually started to work on MMA. So it was pretty weird.”
Boxing to MMA crossover and grappling growth
Claressa Shields’ PFL debut and crossing over to MMA competition as a champion boxer
“We’re fighters. That’s number one, we fight. Claressa Shields, she’s young, she’s hungry. She has so much to prove. And I know she was going to go out there and losing was not an option for her because she had a lot riding on her. I knew she was gonna come out somehow performing well. And I know how she felt those first two rounds. Because my first fight in the third round, I was on the floor for over four minutes. And I kind of felt helpless.”
“It was a situation where I had never been in. And like I said before, I was only training for about two months. So I was unaware of the floor and it really zapped a lot of energy out of me. So that’s why after that fight, I took up Jiu-Jitsu tournaments. Because I wanted to perfect myself, I wanted to make sure that will never happen again.”
“So I know Claressa Shields was going through a lot. A lot of things were going through her head at that time. But you know she overcame it and she’s a fighter. She’s a champion and the third round was awesome. I’m super excited for her and now sky’s the limit. She’s just gotta go out and continue to eat the floor like I did and she’s gonna be a monster one day.”
What aspects of Serrano’s training she credits for her increased grappling comfortability
“When I go to the dojo and I do the no-gi classes, my coach Gabe (Marte) never takes it easy with me. He puts me in there with purple belts and brown belts. He makes sure that I get the work in the gym. Then if there’s tournaments, now because of COVID, tournaments haven’t been around. But when there is tournaments, they’ll put me in there to make sure I get experience and make sure I feel comfortable.”
“Even though I still don’t want to go on the floor. Like I was able to with the guillotine, I was able to if I wanted to drop down and finish it on the floor. But I said you know, I don’t want to be on the floor. Just in case she pops out of there. So I said, you know, it was a standing guillotine. But you just want to be comfortable on the floor just in case. But I still don’t want to go there.”
iKon Fighting Federation 7
Chaining together the boxing sequences to facilitate getting that standing guillotine
“I realized that MMA is more what’s given to you. So I mean I knew I was able to, if I wanted to, finish her with the punches. Because that’s what I do. But when she went in for the single leg and she gave me the neck, it felt all familiar to me. I was like okay I know what to do here. So, I just, I took the opportunity to grab it and take it. So that’s how we got the submission.”
Fighting for Combate Global previously and Pearl Gonzalez’s role in the iKon signing
“We’re much better at the time where I signed up for MMA. I wanted to become undisputed champion. So boxing was good for me. Pearl Gonzalez was fighting for the bare-knuckle. So she had came down a week before my fight in March. She wanted to get work with me. So she came down and then she put us on to iKon. I never knew she was an iKon commentator. I was like oh my god, they do MMA in a ring. That interests me because the ring is my life.”
“I’m so comfortable in the ring. And I said, if I was to go back to MMA I would definitely love to go back with iKon. I’m super happy with them. They treated me well. They know how to match me well. This girl she had a couple of amateur fights, making her debut, and that’s what I needed. I haven’t fought in 2 and a half years. I’m still new to the sport. In my first fight, I went in there with an 11 year plus veteran and she knew exactly what to do. My first fight, I was in a real MMA fight. I got kicked, I got kneed, I got elbowed, I got everything.”
“So I wanted to ease my way back into the sport. And why not in the ring where I feel comfortable. And Pearl, she’s definitely giving me tips. It’s not even for this opponent in particular. She was giving me tips for girls in the future when we go to bigger and better fights. So you know she’s been a godsend. You know we’re helping her with bare-knuckle. She actually moved to Brooklyn to pursue her career in bare-knuckle. So we’re helping each other out and it’s been a great camp.”
The rise of bare-knuckle boxing and the near future of the combative career
Thoughts on the domestic rise in popularity of bare-knuckle boxing as a decorated gloved boxer
“Yeah, it’s pretty cool but to me, it’s pretty scary. Even the slightest punch on bare skin can definitely open you up. I don’t think I’ll be doing it anytime soon. But you know I’m super proud of what Pearl has been doing. She’s been working her behind off. You know she’s getting sparring from me and my sister.”
The contractual dynamics with Amanda Serrano and iKon Fighting Federation
“I really was impressed with their production and how they treated me and my team. So yeah, we’re definitely looking forward to working with them again in the future.”
The influence of sister Cindy and Puerto Rican pride
The dynamics of working with her sister Cindy Serrano who also has world title boxing accolades
“Having my sister in the same sport as me, it’s amazing. You know she helps me tremendously. You know, at times it was only her giving me sparring for fights. At times I feel bad for her because she has no choice but to spar with me. She gives me all the great work. She gave me work for my last fight which was pretty awesome. Now that she’s living here, she’s gonna be one of my main sparring partners as well.”
“Just having that bond with my sister, we understand each other. We know each other. When we’re down and out, we try to push each other. And we just know exactly how Boxing is. Sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s bad. You always have to encourage each other to be the best. Just to be motivated and she definitely motivates me. Now she hasn’t fought in a while. So now it’s just like, it’s me, you know. She’s one of my managers too. So if I make money, we all make money. So that’s how we see it.”
The pride in her Puerto Rican heritage and how that galvanizes her performances
“That’s amazing. Definitely one of the biggest motivations, you know. Just having that flag on my back. Right now just talking about it gives me goosebumps, you know. Because I know I have a whole island behind me. I have young girls looking up to me. Young Latinas looking up to me and saying I can be just like her. Be a beautiful, strong, positive woman in sport in a male-dominated sport. So you know that definitely pushes me. Gives me the extra umph to go out there and to perform to the best of my abilities.”
Pro Wrestling, Muay Thai, and Kickboxing for Amanda Serrano
Amanda Serrano’s pro wrestling aspirations and pro wrestling training with Amazing Red
“I would hope so. That’s where the money is at. I would love to. We do have our buddies, they own a gym House of Glory Wrestling. Amazing Red which is another Puerto Rican wrestler and he’s been helping me. Just learning. I go to all their shows that they have locally. Yeah, I’m hoping I’ll be able to one day enter a wrestling ring as a wrestler. It would be cool. Even a dream of mine would be just to do at least one match. It would be pretty cool.”
Muay Thai and Kickboxing title aspirations and how the goals never end for Amanda Serrano
“Yeah, that’s what I guess motivates people. You have to have a goal. You have to have something to work hard for and wake up every day for.”
