By:  | May 17, 2022 8:48 am

Alyse Anderson’s ONE Championship debut didn’t go according to plan. The 27 year old dropped a decision to Itsuki Hirata in the quarter finals of the promotion’s atomweight Grand Prix.

It was her first time competing overseas and Anderson admits she was overwhelmed by the occasion,

“I was so nervous. I really hesitated in the first two rounds. It even got to the point where I engaged in grappling when I should have been more confident in my striking because I was having success.”

More comfortable

She thinks she showed her potential by dropping Hirata in the third round at ONE: ‘Empower’,

“As soon as I used my striking in the third round, you saw it come together more. So I think now that I’ve experienced that and I’m taking the experience into this next fight, I’ll be more comfortable from the start and it won’t take me time to get going.”

But the 27 year old admits it has been difficult to come to terms with the loss. She is absolutely determined not to taste defeat again when she faces Asha Roka at ONE 157 on Friday,

“Coming off a loss is really hard and that’s just motivated me this whole camp to keep putting in work because I cannot imagine myself going 0-2.”

Gangster mode

She talked extensively about her state of mind heading into a fight and getting into what she calls ‘gangster mode‘. Anderson explained her pre fight philosophy in a bit more detail,

“Honestly, it’s just mostly been not caring about what other people think so much and just listening to your body and listening to what you need.”

The fight had originally been set to take place in March but was postponed. Roka hasn’t fought in over two years so Anderson admits she doesn’t know exactly what to expect,

“I know she’s from a boxing background. She hasn’t fought in a while, so I don’t know how much she’s improved from her time off in the cage. But from what I do see, I feel like her biggest weakness in her game is her grappling, and I think that’s really strong for me.”

 

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New camp

Anderson recently moved to American Top Team which is also home to ONE Championship flyweight champion Adriano Moraes. She thinks the sparring there has left her ready for absolutely anything,

“I have also seen her fights, and she comes out pretty crazy and reckless. The best thing about ATT is there are so many girl partners that are always trying to take your head off. So being used to that at a high-level gym makes me more confident and not really too nervous about all the things that she brings to the table in our fight.”

While Anderson feels she was overly reliant on her submission skills last time around she wants to finish this fight on the ground,

“I feel like I’m going to finish on the ground. I don’t know what round, but either a TKO from a grappling exchange or a submission.”