A local mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter wants a knockout this Saturday at Ameristar Casino in Kansas City, MO, in what will be the biggest fight of her young career.
Kenaston native Charmaine “Not So Sweet” Tweet (4-3) is fighting Brazil’s Ediane Gomes (10-2) at Invicta FC 6: Coenen vs. Cyborg. The winner of the bout will determine the next challenger for the Invicta FC (fighting championships) featherweight crown.
“We’ve had some predictions from my camp that this could be my first knockout in MMA,” said Tweet. “My coach can really see me actually scoring the knockout on her and basically if it does go to the ground I have to be really conscious of her submissions and go for my own.”
Tweet, ranked sixth in the world, said she doesn’t know that much about her opponent, who is ranked second in the featherweight class, other than the Brazilian has a black belt in ju-jitsu and likes to strike. She said the fight against Gomes was up in the air until the last week of June and she is a last minute replacement for fellow Canadian fighter Julia Budd who had to back out due to a neck injury.
“I was told to stay ready, so basically what I’ve been doing is just going to my classes as usual and not training for any specific opponent, but training and staying loose and practising the techniques (of) ju-jitsu,” she said. “Now that we know who I’m fighting we can tailor it for the next two weeks to an opponent and come up with a game plan.”
Despite not knowing if this fight would happen, Tweet has been working hard with her coach Wiley BJJ out of Regina to prepare for it just in case. Since moving to the Wiley BJJ camp, Tweet’s ground game has improved mightily resulting in four wins out of her last five fights.
Tweet said other trainers kept telling her to stop fighting off her back, which went against her style of fighting. She said at her new gym they have let her develop her striking from the bottom philosophy.
“That is what I did in my last fight (against Amanda Bell June 1) and it worked really well for me,” said Tweet. “Just as I was striking her, and she didn’t really want too much more of that, I got lucky enough to steal the sweep and take the top position.
“Basically my style hasn’t changed too much. They’ve just worked more with the style I already have whereas at other gyms they tried to change it. It’s really a good fit where I am now because of lot of their philosophy is the same as mine going into MMA.”
To read more please see the July 8 print edition of The Davidson Leader.