MMARising.com: You are no stranger to championship gold, as you have competed for titles on three occasions and emerged victorious twice. As a former Ring of Fire Women’s Lightweight Champion (a title which you never lost) and SmackGIRL Open-Weight Champion, which of the championships meant the most to you and what were your thoughts when you first held title gold?

Amanda: Winning a belt is not something that motivates me very much. I’m not really sure why that is, but I’ve just never gotten that fired up about it. For some reason, though, once I have one, I definitely feel motivated to not have it taken away by anybody.

MMARising.com: For those who have not yet seen the fight, you were a part of an incredible battle with top-ranked female star Tara LaRosa in 2006. In most people’s minds, you were winning that fight, but LaRosa managed to secure a fight-ending rear naked choke with just 29 seconds remaining in the final round. Had you been victorious that night, how much of an impact do you feel that it would have had on your career?

Amanda: Well, Tara and I are both sitting around right now with nowhere to fight, so I’m not sure that we’ve ended up in much different places.

MMARising.com: While it was tough to watch at the time, with you seemingly coming so close to victory and having it snatched away at the last moment, you chose to focus on the positives from the fight and used it as added motivation for the future. What was the main lesson that you learned from that fight and how has it impacted your career since then?

Amanda: Well, there were some technical things that I took from it. The big one being the importance of remaining focused on making good decisions. I went for a takedown that bounced us right off the ropes and ended up with me on the bottom. It was a poor technique choice.

The other big thing that I took from the fight was that there does exist a time in a fight when it’s okay and even smart to just run out the clock. With so little time on the clock, and the fight (in my opinion) going my way, I should have just clinched or kept distance. That’s just so opposite from my instincts that it’s a tough thing from me to do.

MMARising.com: After the fight with LaRosa, you picked up back-to-back wins over Julie Kedzie and Hitomi Akano in BodogFIGHT before the promotion folded. What was your initial reaction when you became aware of BodogFIGHT’s demise?

Amanda: It was really sad for me. I had a good activity level with them and the whole experience was awesome. They made exciting matchups, treated the fighters well and had made a great place for women in their promotion. I was not surprised when they folded, but it was really depressing.

MMARising.com: Just months after BodogFIGHT ceased operations, long-time women’s MMA leader SmackGIRL also shut down in Japan. As both promotions prominently featured female fighters, their closures were significant blows to the women’s division. How much of an effect do you feel that this had on women’s MMA overall?

Amanda: I feel that that stuff has been huge. It basically left one organization (Elite XC, and now Strikeforce) which, up until now, has pretty much had an interest in only one female athlete. That is obviously not a good thing for the women’s scene as a whole.

MMARising.com: Of the promotions that have begun to showcase women’s MMA in the past two years – most notably Strikeforce, Bellator Fighting Championships and Palace Fighting Championship in North America, and Jewels, Valkyrie, DEEP and Shooto in Japan – which do you feel has done the most to advance the sport?

Amanda: Strikeforce, for sure. They have had the most high-profile fighters, and the mere fact that the cards are televised advances the sport way more than any other show. You can have the best show in the world, but if nobody sees it, it won’t have much impact on the sport overall.

MMARising.com: As you mentioned before, you last competed on April 3, 2008 at Fatal Femmes Fighting 4 and dropped a Unanimous Decision to rising Japanese star Takayo Hashi. Looking back, what would you have done differently that night?

Amanda: I will just restate that what I would do differently is not take that fight. It’s very hard to turn down a fight when there are so few opportunities out there, but I would rather have turned that down than have the experience that I did.