"One on One with Dylan Carter" featuring Mackenzie Grey

The Jamaica Pegasus Hotel

Kingston, Jamaica

02/01/2019

12:30 PM EST

[Inside the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel is a meeting and event room. The room has a two-tone tan color scheme. The bottom half has a good gold hint to it with a diamond pattern. A large oak wood table stretches across the middle of the room. Black rolling office chairs surround the table and a flat screen tv is mounted center of the long wall. On that screen is the UGP logo with Boss Fight VI beneath it.

Under the TV sits Dylan Carter, UGP interviewer. The blonde adjusts in the seat before looking to the camera.]

Dylan: Hello everyone and thank you for joining us for another edition of “One on One with Dylan Carter”. We are in Kingston, Jamaica the home of tomorrow's Boss Fight VI. I'm joined today by MacKenzie Grey. Thank you for joining me today.

[The camera pans over to the caramel-skinned star of rings, cages, and film, Kenzi Grey. She flashes a dazzling smile, but Dylan can’t help but to notice that she’s dressed in an oversized blue t-shirt with “DISCO SUCKS” emblazoned across the front and a baggy pair of sweatpants. She laughs as she returns the greeting.]

Kenzi: Thanks for having me, Dylan! Apologies for the super casual look. I packed for an LFL game, but I didn’t realize we were eliminated from the playoffs the week prior. I didn’t bring anything else to wear.

[Dylan can only blink and smile at the woman’s odd demeanor. She chuckles and presses on with the interview.]

Dylan: That's alright. I always start out asking what got you into MMA?

Kenzi: You know, I’ve always looked at wrestling as a gateway to a lot of things and MMA was one of them. Watching the greats inside the cage take an aspect of grappling and blend it with other arts is amazing! Anyone who fights for a living should want to test their limits inside the ultimate expression of combat sports. For me, it’s about testing my limits and challenging my fears in an attempt to become better at my craft while learning new disciplines and skills. In short, I think it is all about growth for me.

Dylan: Why take on something as time-consuming as MMA when you are in wrestling, football, and movies. Anyone of those are full-time careers on their own.

[Kenzi can’t help but laugh out loud at that question. It wasn’t the first time that anyone had taken more than a passing interest at her manic schedule.]

Kenzi: I am going to let you in on something; I keep busy to keep myself from going over the deep end. I don’t sleep much, and when I do, I am always thinking of the next thing that I want to do. Hell! Maybe that’s why I’m terrible at all of the things that I try, but that doesn’t matter…I just love doing it! Yeah, one day I’ll just burn out, but until that happens, I am content to squeeze as much living into this dumb little body as I can!

Dylan: Things haven't quite gone as you'd like with a 1-3 record. What do you think is the cause of that?

Kenzi: A combination of things, actually. Like I said before, I am new this and because of that, I fight a very cautious style…

[She shrugged as she elaborated on the second reason.]

Kenzi: …being on TV plays a part as well. Directors hate it when their performers show up to shoot with their faces all beat to mush. I geared my style for safety, but like you said…it hasn’t really worked out that well. I can go all night, but if I’m not being aggressive and going for the finish…taking chances, that is not going to get me to the win.

Dylan: You've proven an ability to go the distance with your 3 losses falling to judges. The fight you won was just seconds from hitting the time limit. Is that something that you've trained for?

Kenzi: It is! I switched camps and joined Express Fighting Systems with Bobbi London and they have been working with me on looking for those finishes when they present themselves. Of course, with everything, there is a bit of risk involved there. I am hoping I can strike a balance without getting my block knocked off…but that is what makes this sport so much fun!

Dylan: Losses to Hailey McIntyre and Zari Aliyah came with some controversy. Various people have said that the judges got the fights wrong. What are your thought? Where the judges wrong on those fights?

[Kenzi takes a deep and uncomfortable breath before answering this pointed question.]

Kenzi: I’m not a judge and I never will be. According to the word on the street I am barely a fighter! I wouldn’t dare diminish the accomplishments of Hailey and Zari like that. The bottom line is that when fights are left in the hands of the judges, you have done all you’re going to do and the end is whatever they make it out to be. We all put in the work to get the win, but when it was all said and done, the judges didn’t think I did enough to move up the ladder.

[Dylan looks down at her notes and scribbles.]

Dylan: I can respect the “politically correct” answer, but the loss to Hailey McIntyre may have resulted in her Lightweight championship fight. A fight that could have been yours.

Kenzi: Not going to lie, that sucked and I really did want that fight. I thought I did enough, but the fact of the matter is that I didn’t. Like I said, if I cry about it, then it’s just sour grapes. I am not going to speculate on what might have been, only what was.

Dylan: You have 2 fights left on your contract and with your losing skid you’ve gone from 5th to 12th ranked in your division. Are you going to allow your contract to expire after these last two fights?

[Kenzi allows a long slow smile to creep across her lips.]

Kenzi: Union GP has been a humbling and cathartic experience for me. Being thrust outside of my comfort zone has really been life altering. If I allow my contract to expire, then I will have gone out there and faced my fears and grown as an athlete and as a person…

[Dylan endures the long and uncomfortable silence for as long as possible before chiming in.]

Dylan: Is that a yes or a no?

[Kenzi winks at the camera before giving her answer.]

Kenzi: That’s a...Kenzi is going to make you wait and see.

[Dylan nods and smiles.]

Dylan: Let's move on to tomorrow. How ready do you feel? I mean, you seemed to think you had a football game and not a fight this weekend.

[Kenzi nods at the more than valid question, given the circumstances.]

Kenzi: I feel 100% ready to go out there and throw touchdowns to my receivers, but throwing hands with Rovzan Ahkmadov might be a completely different matter. The fans believe that I’m going to win, but when that bell rings it will be decided by who has put in the most work and prepared the most. I wish I could sit here and tell you that I am going to walk in that cage and put on another Fight of the Night performance, but all I can tell you is that I feel ready, in spite of the fact that I have a nimrod for a personal assistant that didn’t know that I was supposed to be here for a fight instead of playing football!

Dylan: Do you feel the when you've learned from MMA is help to your wrestling career?

Kenzi: Absolutely! Submissions have never been part of my game, but training in that style has really opened up a whole new world for me. Not only that, but my stamina has increased and so has my technical proficiency and discipline. It really has been positive in all regards.

Dylan: If you do opt not to return, what's next?

Kenzi: Well, everyone would have to wait and see! I don’t want to spoil anything!

Dylan: Do you have a preferred final opponent? If you chose not to resign.

Kenzi: I really don’t. I didn’t get into Union to settle vendettas or prove anything to anyone but myself. Matches get made and I take them as they come.

Dylan: Any final comments you'd like to make as

we wrap up?

Kenzi: Nope! Just thank you for taking the time to sit with me today.

[Dylan nods, offering a small smile toward Kenzi.]

Dylan: Thank you for joining me today MacKenzie.

[Dylan looks over toward the camera.]

Dylan: Thanks to everyone watching. Hope you found this interview as… interesting as I did. You can see MacKenzie Grey take on Rovzan Ahkmadov tomorrows Boss Fight VI, live on the Battleground network.