Hannah Goldy is coming off a lopsided victory on the Dana White’s Contender Series card last week. She easily won the fight. While she didn’t get the contract (she was later called up), Goldy remains optimistic about her future in fighting. We sat down and talked after that fight and got to know Hannah Goldy a little better.
Hannah is the #1 pound for pound fighter in the Florida region according to Tapology. She is one the best prospects the women’s division has to offer. Many were excited to see her get the shot at earning a contract. She knew what she was capable of as well.
“If you watched any of my other fights, it’s not really a secret that I’m not scared to stand and bang. It was kind of my game plan to go up there and move,” said Goldy.
She continues, “I knew she was going to try and wrestle me, I knew she wasn’t going to be able to strike with me. I feel like I showed a higher fight IQ by moving when I needed to move and striking when I needed to strike. In my opinion, the best fight is hitting somebody a lot and not getting hit. I didn’t take any damage from that fight. I came home and got to hang out with my son injury free. I get to go back to the gym tomorrow. I literally could fight right after that fight. So, to me that’s a win.”
Hannah Goldy shall not rest on her laurels. She is already looking for her next scrap. “I’m actively looking for something right now. Obviously, if a good opportunity comes along, I’ll take it. But, I’m trying to get back in there as soon as possible. I’m trying to keep the streak going, stay active and to keep fighting as much as I can.”
In Week One, Dana White drew a lot of flack for not signing Brendan Loughnane because he shot a takedown with 10 seconds remaining in the fight. He put on a dominating performance and is more than likely UFC material. I asked Hannah if she felt penalized for fighting correctly and not wild. She maintains that the UFC and Dana White are looking for finishers in the Contender Series.
“I think that I did go out there and listened to my coaches and followed my game plan. I didn’t take any damage and I beat her up. I feel like if I wasn’t fighting on the Contender Series, maybe [Dana White] would have thought better of my performance. I know that going on to the Contender Series, they do want finishes. They want ‘killers.’ I already know that I can move forward and I wanted to show a different aspect of my game. I really thought my fight IQ showed in that fight. I’m not mad about it. It’s just experience. The more fights I have before fighting the best fighters in the world, that’s cool. I’m just going to get better, keep sharpening my tools. I’m going to get where I want to get no matter what. God has me on a path, and obviously my path wasn’t the UFC on Tuesday night. That’s fine, he probably has a better opportunity lined up for me, so I’m not worried about it. It is what it is. I’m happy with my performance. I get to come home next day and get back to training, pick my kid up and throw him in the air, cook dinner, and not sitting in a hospital bed and not have to get surgery.”
Regardless of the drama, Hannah is very thankful for her opportunity to fight for the Contender Series.
“Honestly, the UFC Contender Series was a great opportunity. I was blessed to be given that opportunity. I’m a mom and I’m trying to take care of my kid. To me, I’m not star struck by the name of any organization. I want to work with an organization that’s going to take care of me so I can take care of my family. If that happens to be the UFC, that’s awesome. And if that happens to not be the UFC, that’s awesome too. I love to fight, I don’t care what octagon it’s in, what state it’s in, what country it’s in, who I’m fighting. I just want to keep training, keep getting better, and keep taking care of my little boy.”
It’s all about her son. While she loves fighting, she says, “I’d do this shit for free, but I got to take care of the baby boy. He needs some sneakers.”
It’s a huge topic of finding the first mom-champ in the UFC. Michelle Waterson is incredibly vocal about it herself. Hannah Goldy weighed in on that topic as well.
“This has been a new topic for me. My son is about to be 2. When I got pregnant with Odin, I always said I was going to fight six months after I had him, and I did.”
Pause right here for a second. Yes, Hannah Goldy and Alex Nicholson aptly named their son “Odin.” Just had to bring attention to that. Back to Hannah’s point:
“I had three professional fights before my Contender Series fight as a mom, and I breast fed through every single one of them, literally whether it was me pumping in the back, or Odin on my boob in the back right before I walked out. TMI, but it is what it is. For me, I feel like it’s just prepared me even more. A high pressure situation like the Contender Series, after doing what I did for the past year and a half, it wasn’t really pressure to go fight in front of the president of the UFC. My life was pressure. The past two years was just fun to me. It prepared me in that sense. It’s motivation. He just started talking and before my last fight this last Tuesday, there were times I had to go do cardio at 9-10 at night. It’s a tough weight cut at ’15 for me. I’m in the gym a lot. There’s just times I’m laying on the couch and I’m just like, ‘Ugh, I don’t want to get up.’ And he starts saying, ‘Get up, mommy! Get up!’ He’ll start saying it and I’m like, oh man, I got to go to the gym. I got to take care of him. There’s no other option right now. I need to take care of my son and nobody’s going to stand in my way and I’m going to win fights for him.”
Odin is already in that fight life, says Hannah. “He spartan kicks the air. He bop, bop, bop’s. I’m like, where the heck did you learn to punch like that, then I’m like, oh yeah. He’s a savage man. It’s a good thing he’s not a bully and beating up all the kids. He’s over 35 pounds and he’s not even two.”
Even though, Goldy says she is a mom, she is adamant on not being labeled a “single mom.” With help from all over her family, she says she has not done this by her self by any stretch of the imagination.
“People have been saying the single mom thing a lot, and I am single and I am a mom. But I do have a lot of help from a lot of people. I definitely couldn’t do it without them. A lot of people are Alex Nicholson’s family, the father of my child. I think God has blessed my family with a lot of grace over the past couple months. We’ve been blessed to be able to co-parent and we understand what we go through. He fights PFL. So he has a lot of high profile fights coming up. We can help each other through fight camps. I am doing it on my own in some sense but I also have the support of family, and I think God has helped my family with a lot of grace. He’s helped my family through a lot of issues and get through them together and make them work.”
If you look at that picture of Hannah above, she is ripped. She doesn’t have an ounce of fat on her body. When asked about the possibility of 125, she says her home is 115.
“I have fought at 125. I don’t really walk around over 130 ever so I am kinda small for 125. I really have to put up a little bit of weight. But, I’m not a pussy and I’ll cut the weight. I felt great for my last fight. My cardio felt great. I have people that know how to do it the right way with diet then sauna. I carry a lot of muscle for a female. A lot of it is water, which is nice for me. I think that 115 is my home right now. Like I said, I felt great my last fight. I know my body enough to know how to cut down and feel good the next day. So I think I’ll stay at 115 for right now. But, if I got a good opportunity at 125, I’m not going to say I wouldn’t take it. I’m just trying stay active and fight, and if it came around I’d take it at either weight class.”
Check out the whole podcast episode below!
