After a 18-month absence Pannie Kianzad makes her return to action this Friday when she faces Raquel Pa’aluhi on UFC Fight Pass.
Kianzad (8-1) features on the main card of Invicta 21 which takes place at the Scottish Rite Temple in Kansas City, Missouri and will look to bounce back from her first professional loss at the hands of Tonya Evinger.
Despite losing in her attempt to win Bantamweight gold with the American promotion, “Sexy Scramble” refuses to dwell on the setback.
“In the lead-up to my last fight I was at breaking point. My last break from training and competing came when when I was 18 years olds when I graduated thats was only for 2 months.”
“In the lead up to my fight I felt like I shouldn’t go to Kansas. I couldn’t tell you what it was but I just felt wrong. I think it was good that it happened because if it didn’t happen I might not have had the chance to fix my back that went out shortly after the fight.
“I’ve been suffering back problems for years but I didn’t fix it because I thought fighters never stop, just keep on going. I’ve been involved in five fight camps with a bulging disc and after my fight I would lose feelings in my legs every time I sparred so me losing the fight, me doing everything wrong for that fight was exactly what I needed and I wouldn’t change how things turned out for anything.”
Despite the setback at Invicta 14 the 25-year-old doesn’t feel that her title fight with Evinger was too much of a step up after her promotional debut win over Jessica-Rose Clarke and a rematch with the champion is something she would be interested in pursuing in the future.
Kianzad was originally scheduled to make her return to action last year until a training accident in September brought about an end to her multi-year association with the famed Scandinavian gym Rumble Sports and head coach Tue Trnka in an incident that she looks back on with extreme disappointment but refuses to dwell on.
“You would think that you have good training partners and a coach that would that makes sure that nobody does anything dangerous in sparring which I thought I did. But this dude blew my knee out when he tried some scissors sweep technique in the 1st round of sparring. If you’ve been in the game for a longtime you know only idiots do that [laughs] so my knee blew out. For me at the time I felt ‘f–k’ and I felt like the other people on my team were like ‘thank God we don’t have to deal with her fights again’ which was very disappointing for me.”
Now with a new home that is Arte Suave in Copenhagen and with her comeback looming large on the horizon the Helsingborg native has rediscovered the drive and passion for the sport she thought she has lost in the lead up to her last fight.
“I try to take a positive view on what happened because if my knee didn’t get injured I might have been stuck at a place where I wasn’t happy. I’m happy that things happened the way it happened. I’m happy I didn’t win the title fight, I’m happy that call to the UFC didn’t happen, I’m even pretty happy that I blew out my knee [laughs] because on the whole I’m in a totally better place now, I’m totally rested and healed up now and I was able to do my camp with any problems with my back or anything else.
“Since I’ve joined my new team I’ve fallen in love with training in a Gi and it has definitely helped round me out as a mixed martial artist. I feel me and Arte Suave are a perfect fit. Before I was only doing boxing and preparing for one specific person but now I working on all aspects of MMA despite training at a place that is predominantly a Jiu-Jitsu team I’ve also been doing a lot of Greco Roman Wrestling along with my striking, yes been doing a lot of everything during my time away from the cage.”
With all the bad times behind her “Sexy Scramble” now has her sights on her Invicta FC 21 opponent Raquel “LionHeart” Pa’aluhi who has faced some of the names who have gone on to be big players in women’s MMA and Kianzad feels a win over her propels her in a similar manner.
“Raquel is a fight I’ve been looking forward to. I believe we were supposed to fight a while ago for the No.1 contender spot and I always knew when I joined Invicta that she should be a possible opponent. I think she’s a great fighter, I have nothing against her personally, I like her fighting style, I know she’s a really good wrestler so I love this match-up and I think we’re gonna be fight of the night definitely 100 percent.
“I think I will finish her. I don’t matter whether its standing or if it goes to the group I think I will get the finish. Failing that of course I think I will get the decision win which some people hate about me but I love having to dig deep and grind out wins. I just love the whole fighting experience and I feel whats the point of going through a fight camp, cutting all that weight to finish someone inside two-minutes [laughs] I’m planning on enjoying my time inside the cage.”
