Lea Bivins’ ONE Championship debut came much later than expected and will be a far tougher fight than originally anticipated. Her original opponent withdrew at the last minute and she had to wait three months for another match.
She had been scheduled to face Zeba Bano at ONE 159 and branded the Indian a ‘loser’ after she pulled out on the day of the fight. Instead Bibins will take on Noelle Grandjean at ONE on Prime Video 3 and she knows it will be a much more difficult fight,
“So I’m excited this time because it looks like they gave me a better grade (of opponent). As far as me fighting Zeba again, if the matchmakers did offer it, of course I would take it because I want to beat her face but as of right now, I’m just looking for better opponents.”
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Very resourceful
The 20 year old has been very resourceful as she looks to gain an insight into Grandjean’s fighting style,
“I’ve watched all her fights, actually a bunch of times. I’ve been on her Instagram this whole fight camp, kind of stalking her and watching what she does,” she admitted.
Her opponent has been preparing for this contest at Tiger Muay Thai and Bivins knows she is facing a fighter with solid striking skills,
“It looks like her strength is more of in stand-up, I would say. So obviously, we’ve got to watch out for her Muay Thai. I’ve been working on Muay Thai myself.”
But that isn’t the only threat which she needs to be wary of,
“It seems like she’s also very good at judo. I think that she was a judo black belt. It looks like she had some throws so we’ve just been working some counters, and a lot of ground game, not really leaving out any sort of martial arts aspect.”
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Previous experience
While she didn’t get to fight for ONE Championship in July at least Bivins got to experience travelling to Singapore in order to compete,
“Fight week was exciting. It was nice to be able to check out the whole production. That’s the bright side of everything. I was really confident during the fight week,” she said.
Being based in the US she knows the significance of the Amazon Prime fight cards which are broadcast live by the streaming service in North America,
“It’s definitely exciting being on Prime Video. I’m very grateful for the company to be able to offer it to me, I know a lot of debutants don’t get to be on the Prime Video card. It is exciting too because everybody watches Prime.”
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Absolutely determined
Having seen her last ONE Championship opportunity slip away at the last minute for reasons totally beyond her control she is absolutely determined to grasp this one with both hands,
“I definitely want to showcase all my skills. But because I wasn’t able to debut my skills last time, it’s more exciting to just be able to go out there and showcase anything at this point. So I’m more excited for the fight itself.”
And while her opponent might be the one with the striking credentials Bivins still sees herself finishing the fight with strikes,
“I definitely want to end this fight with my hand getting raised however I do it (but) I would love to get a TKO.”
