Nina Ansaroff Says Amanda Nunes’ Confidence In Her Is Inspiring

Nina Ansaroff spoke with MMAjunkie ahead of her fight with Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger at UFC Fight Night 103. Some highlights are below:

On Amanda Nunes saying she’ll be the next UFC champion: “She says it all the time. Every time we train, every time someone talks about me. She believes in me as much as I believe in her. She has an idea of where I stand – she’s the world champion and I’m her No. 1 sparring partner – so, it kind of, she knows how tough of a time I give her in training. Someone believes in you that much, it’s contagious and motivating. Look what it did for Ronda (Rousey), and Sage (Northcutt), all these people. When you have someone behind you that’s high up there and means that much and you’ve got that push, it makes it easier. You believe your own hype for a little bit, and sometimes it helps.”

On sparring with Joanna Jedrzejczyk’s as part of Karolina Kowalkiewicz’s recent training camp: “It was exciting for me; of course you want to see where you stand. I know where I stand with Amanda. She’s the champ of 135. You just kind of want to see where it is in your weight class. But I know where I am right now. I know I have some fights to get up there. I’m not going to fight (Jedrzejczyk) any time soon. So it was actually a good thing for me, and I was able to help her and she was able to help me and that’s about it. There’s no egos involved, we got good training and that’s the end of it.”

On Jones-Lybarger: “She’s a tough girl. She’s not ranked and she’s coming off two losses, but I’m not overlooking that. I’m also not ranked and coming off two losses, whether mine were controversial or not. You can’t underestimate your opponent. I take this fight very seriously, I’m fighting for the No. 1 spot, and I know Jocelyn is tough. She fought a girl on my team, and I’m definitely not overlooking her.”

On being in the locker room after Nunes’ win over Rousey: “I wanted to fight that night. I wanted to go get some sparring rounds in with Amanda, like ‘You didn’t get a good sweat in, let’s finish your fight and start mine.’ It was kind of, you know, we were ready to go. It’s very contagious, motivating, and it gave me a big boost. I’m ready to go. I’m excited about this fight. I’m just ready to show my true skills. My last couple of fights, I wasn’t able to pull the trigger the way I normally do, and I’m ready to show it this time.”

On what’s next after this fight: “I win this fight in impressive fashion, at this weight class it only takes two or three of those and you’re fighting for the belt. If I put that in motion right away and by the end of this year I’m a contender and I fight for the belt, I could stop right after that because I have no problem – money really hasn’t been an issue. It’s not something I need to do. I might just stop and take a break to start my family. I have my dream of being the UFC champion but I also have a dream of being a mother, and that’s very important to me, as well.”