By Dave Dakota

You never know the capabilities of someone you see out at a bar or any public setting. For a female exotic dancer who recently had her first MMA fight, looks could be deceiving. I talked to Emily Blanchard about her new love, as well as keeping her night job.

DD: First of all, how do you work as an exotic dancer when you have a black eye?

EB: Makeup is pretty amazing (laughs). I mean, I am pretty good, so it’s rare that I have any scratches. I was a high school wrestling champion. And I wrestled boys. I have been doing golden gloves since I was 8. I just happen to also be cute, and make money as an exotic dancer. I love both of my jobs. They both make me feel great. I plan on doing both until I am making so much money fighting, and that I am so famous that exotic dancing doesn’t make any sense. And by the way, if I got super famous, I would do tours of the strip clubs and be a feature dancer. Those bitches make a ton of money (laughs).

DD: So you’ve been fighting your whole life. Why did you just turn pro recently?

EB: I promised my dad that I wouldn’t take my first pro fight until I was 21. Last year I did a lot of traveling, so I made my debut at 22. I think it was the perfect time. I was 13-0 as an amateur. I plan on fighting in the big shows very soon! I just want to get 5 or 6 fights under my belt, and then go for the UFC belt. I am a 105 pounder so I want to spend the next year adding 10 pounds of muscle while still keeping my agility to fight for the UFC 115 pound title. I walk around at 116. So I definitely need to put on muscle to compete with these girls. I honestly think I could win the title today, but I want to always be the absolute best version of myself that I can be. So I want to do it the right way. This way I will have the confidence to destroy any opponent that I get in the cage with.

DD: Have you ever had to use your training on a customer?

EB: Yes, but I will not talk about that on the record here. (laughs).