I'm a Power Slap star and Ronda Rousey is my idol – now I'm hoping to emulate her MMA career
12/07/2024 11:15 AM
On Saturday, November 30, Slap Fighting star Franciska Szabo won her MMA debut after transitioning over from Dana White’s Power Slap.
Franciska Szabo, also known as Sheena Bathory, finally made her MMA debut last Saturday at Hargita Fight Night 1, winning her professional debut.
‘The Hungarian Hurricane’ has been cutting her teeth in Power Slap, the Slap Fighting promotion owned by UFC CEO, Dana White.
According to White, Power Slap is one of the fastest-growing promotions in the world since its inception in 2022, and he has even claimed that he believes it’ll one day be bigger than the UFC.
Franciska Szabo hopes to follow in Ronda Rousey’s footsteps
Prior to her anticipated debut in the cage, Szabo admitted that she is hoping to follow in the footsteps of one of her idols, Ronda Rousey.
‘Rowdy’ Ronda was one of the reasons why the UFC integrated a women’s division into the promotion, becoming the first female fighter to hold a title in the premier promotion.
The Hungarian female, like Rousey, has a background in Judo and has competed in several combat sports due to her father being a coach in martial arts.
“I like everything that involves power and strength because I wasn’t only competing in judo. When I was a kid, I was competing in track and field, I did handball, tried multiple sports, you know?” Szabo told The Mirror.
“So I’m just enjoying competing and (my family) know the more challenging and more dangerous it is, the more desire I have. So they absolutely supported it,” she continued.
Power Slap has been scrutinized by combat sports fans around the world, stating that it is not a real sport and for what they go through, they don’t get paid enough.
Despite that, the Hungarian who has scored three Power Slap KO’s has insisted that she is not in it for the money and that it is a privilege to work with people like Dana White.
“I would say it was a privilege to be around Dana (White) because it runs under the UFC, so I would say that’s definitely one part of the reason I hopped in. Also, the self challenge. I didn’t really know how I was going to come out of this event, you know?
“I remember my very first competition, I didn’t know how strong I’m going to slap. I didn’t know how I’m going to react when I get slapped, so also the curiosity (interested me),” she continued.
Szabo believes her Power Slap experience will help her in MMA
After having competed in Power Slap several times and having grown up competing in several different combat sports, Szabo believes her experience will help her in MMA, similarly to Rousey’s.
“I’d already tried out almost every combat sport. I think MMA would be great. And I was also inspired by Ronda Rousey and Kayla Harrison – both judo fighters, and they did really good. So I think circumstances just guided me here and desire to compete in MMA,” she said.
Having already built a relationship up with White, a few more wins on the regional MMA scene in Romania could see her given an opportunity under the UFC banner.
Dana White’s Contender Series has become the most popular way for the promotion to make their signings, and following a few wins, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Szabo given an opportunity on the next season of the Contender Series.
