Jozette Cotton is a mixed martial artist who competes in the Featherweight division. She is the former DCS Featherweight Champion is expected to face Kayla Harrison at Titan FC 66.
Transcript
Sergio Pineiro: Boom! We are back with the 122nd edition of the quarantinecast. I’m really excited for this one. I am joined by Jozette Cotton who has now accepted a fight. She is taking on one of the most feared women in all of mma right now in Kayla Harrison. She’s taken this on literally like no notice so massive props to her. I think she’s a heavy underdog going into this one. I think a lot of us are rooting for her for that reason, so without further ado i’m going to bring her on.
Sergio Pineiro: How are you doing?
Jozette Cotton: I’m good, how are you?
Sergio Pineiro: Not too bad. How are things there with the the pandemic and everything going on in the world? How are you holding up?
Jozette Cotton: Well it’s pretty annoying the masks. You know, having to wear them everywhere you’re entering and forgetting your shit in the car. [And] having to walk all the way back to the car to get it. It’s like ‘bro just let me in bro’. For me it’s just been a little irritating. I know people want to be safe and stuff like that, but I’m one of them people [that are] healthy. I’m just going to the car bro, it’s pissing me off.
Sergio Pineiro: How’s your training been throughout the whole thing?
Jozette Cotton: It’s been cool. I’ve been pretty much just been getting my guys together you know. I had no fight coming up or nothing like that. Here with our local show, it kind of took off around August. We got a couple fighters on our team so the guys have been pretty much getting back after it. I’ve been pretty much getting the guys and some of our teammates ready for their fights.
Sergio Pineiro: Was Ron Coleman one of them? I know he had a huge win as an amateur.
Jozette Cotton: He looked very good. I was just so excited that he even did it because I just remember back when I started my career . He was like “I’m too pretty for that. Ain’t nobody going to hit me with my face.” So when he made the call to actually go and do it, I was super excited. I’m like “bro you don’t even know what you want. You gonna be a monster bro.”
Sergio Pineiro: It’s funny because I spoke to Houston Alexander back in March and he said “keep your eyes out for him”. I’ve been sitting here waiting. He went out there and looked very good.
Sergio Pineiro: I want to talk a little bit about you. It’s been a while since we’ve seen you inside the cage. You had that boxing match but what was the reason for the long layoff?
Jozette Cotton: You know it’s hard when you are who you are. It’s hard to get fights. It’s hard to to make somebody agree to fight you. Right after I fought Kayla I went under knee surgery. [I] got that done so I was itching to get back in there. My doctor cleared me and I was good. Actually that same day I was supposed to fight in the bare knuckles in Florida as well. She backed out a week before the fight. My coach just came out of no where and was like we got this boxing match. I’m like fuck yeah, sign me up. Right now I’m in that stage in my life, and my career where you don’t get excited about fights anymore. When people find out well who they’re fighting they go “oh you know well maybe not”. There’s a lot of times that I prepared for fights that didn’t go through because somebody actually knew exactly who they were fighting at the time. You know when they first presented [the fight] to them it was just “oh yeah it’s a fight”, and then they’re like “that’s not a good fight for me”. I stopped getting excited about stuff like that.
Sergio Pineiro: I want to talk about about your fight. You were one of the the few people I think brave enough to fight Kayla Harrison. Obviously that fight’s coming up so talk a little bit about the matchup. Are you excited for the rematch?
Jozette Cotton: Yes! oh my god you don’t youhave no idea you know i’m just excitedbecause i get her in my room you know notournament style i get all my weaponsi get to the dog this girl you know whati mean and uhand then i get to send her back to pfllooking stupid so i’m super excitedabout her actually being in the mmamatchand knowing what it feels like to be inthere with the headbusterwithout a tournament style without theserules without these things you know whati meanbecause not until you know november orwhatever when she fought invictus likebaby you ain’t [ __ ] mma fights idon’t know who telling you thisbut you ain’t never been in no mma fightyou you you went to pflthat that’s a uh uh you know uh you knowone little stem off of mmabut that’s like you know our striker andmuay thaiand a striker at boxing bro they bothstrikers but those are totally differentthings broso with that being said you know i justi just prayed on it i was i was prayinglike a [ __ ] i said god let meget this girl outside of pfl i need herto where i can useand do everything that i’m able to doyou know i mean not have tothink about what i can do and what ican’t you know what i mean soi’m super excited about showing herexactly who who i amyou know she just got a taste of me youknow i mean and soi just think that you know nowwhen she’s in there she’s gonna she’sgonna oh okaythis is mma hey baby this mma this rightheredecember 17th is going to be your firstmma fightcourtney king did awesome i i can’t takenothing for courtneycourtney did awesome but this one isgonna be your first for real for realmma fight how do you umwhat’s the biggest lesson you learnedlast time out i thought you looked veryvery good early on in the fight when itwas on theon the on the feet obviously when shegot a hold of you there’s a differentdifferent element that’swhere judo came in so what’s the biggestlesson you learned from that fight thatyou’re going to apply to this oneuh i can’t say anything i can’t takenothing nothing there’s no lesson ummy knee got popped in uh i don’t knowwhat round so i wasn’t able to push offthat footuse my leg the way i needed to at all togetso i mean a one-legged person umand doing what i did to her in thatround you know doing what i did to herwith one legfor three rounds i mean it’s just showsyou exactly what i’m gonna do to her intwo roundsand with two legs like she’s done justnothing she can doshe could barely keep me on the groundwhen she had me with one leg so i don’tknow what she’s preparing fori don’t know what she needs to find outwhat lesson she’s going to be learningfrom that fight becausenow she’s entering an mma cage with josecotton with two legsso little did she know jose had one legin that fightso now she has to adjust herself whenshe seesjose’s bouncing jose the real josettecome december 17th then you’re going tosee everything all her confidence andeverything i’m just going toslowly take everything from her you knowall her confidence everything she’s everthought she worked for all her trainingis just going to go out the door becauseshe’sdone she’s not going to know what to dowith miss cotton with two legsfury so no lesson at all i don’t therewas no lesson thati i needed to learn in the first part tothe second fight exceptjose is going to do what you do on the17thwith all bars oh no nono you can’t do this none of that joseis going to put it on caleb on the 17thi feel like i know the answer to thisquestion but i’m going to ask it anywaydoes it bother you that the fact thatyou’re such a heavy underdogno no no that’s in the world ofyou know it’s it’s that’s just that’sjust whoever does it you know what imean likethat’s like oh if i do it you know meand you like you got your podcast youknowit’s your opinion your opinion whoevermakes this up that’s that’s wherever youknow it’s likeuh family feud we’ve surveyed 100 people100 people did you survey because wedon’t we don’t think that these are thetop five answersso you know it’s just it’s justsomebody’s opinion you know what i meanumso no i don’t i don’t i don’t care atall about beingthe underdog you know i’m a dogin there so that’s all that matters i’min i’m in there i’m part of theshow so i’m i’m happy to give mesomethingbecause without a fight at all you can’tbe nothing you can’t be the overdog theunderdogcan’t be nothing i’m just happy that i’mhere and it’s been presented towill it feel extra sweet getting it doneagainst someone who has so much hypebehind heroh man it’s going oh man you have noidea it isit’s gonna feel great awesome amazingwell overdue you know just justthis overdue is pretty much gonna beoverdue i’ve been sitting and waitingfor this girl for two years soi i i it’s overdue for me you knowit’s obviously a shorter camp there’snot a whole lot of timeto prepare for it who have been yourmain training training partners andwho’s going to be in your corner ondecember 18thuh my judicial coach uh sean westbrookhe’s uhbeen training me since i started startedwhen i was 23 years oldso you know let the world say i don’thave any uhground work but i’ve been doing judicialsince my mma career startedstarted boxing when i was 18 so thefirst thing i did when i got on thescene of mma was jiu-jitsu so you knowit’s it’sit’s it’s it’s it puts women in a badplace to think that i have no groundworkum you know i went to gyms and i madeblack belt coaches look stupid becausethey can’t finish me you knowthe amount of time that they need to soyou know it’ll be stupid to think that idon’t have any ground work with two legsyou know what i mean so you knowwherever this fight goes i’m just readyto justput her in her place and send her backto pfli love it i love that i love that answeryou mentioned being 18starting in boxing what was the hardestelement to learn i mean i’ve talked topeople withwrestling backgrounds boxing backgroundsand they all have different answers whatwas the hardest discipline to masterwhen you madethat transition i can’t say nothing washard to master i could say one thingabout me is when i when i’m learningsomething newit stays and replays in my mind over andover and overuh i went to work jabbing uh my my bossused to tell me stop [ __ ] punching myboxesi broke trying to get i’m trying tolearn bro soi’m one of those people that i i justrepeat it over in my head i see itvisuallyum and i’m a do it you know i’m a visuallearner as well as that soit’s it’s it it never stops you knowi’ll be [ __ ] i can be eating thekitchencooking food and just start shadowboxing like for meit’s just what i’ve done what i’velearned and i’ve always took from mycoaching coachesis you know it’s muscle memory if you doit and do it it just comes natural so ijust kept repeating everything iokay well i would say my footwork iwould saydoing my footwork put with my you knowstepping with my punchesinstead of just punching because i’mused to just standing there and walkingthe streets you know what i meanand then you know stepping into the jabso i would say i would say uhputting my footwork with my handstogetherwould be what my coaches used to alwaysyell at me about you knowturn your hips do this you know that youknow so i would sayyou know the footwork aspect of um wasum the hardest for me to catch on iain’t gonna say uhyou know it was hard to you know themaster it was just one of those thingsthat i knew i had toyou know i’m you know a lot of peoplewhen you first do it you want to punchhardyou know you want to punch hard and it’slike no you’re throwing arm punchesso if you’re leaving your hips outthat’s taking less off your punch thatit could be yeah you can push hard asyou want tobut if you would have added that hip youwould have added that that turn with theback footyour punch would have been so muchstronger so it was just just getting thefootwork in my hips in the motion ofboxingand putting it all together as one oneuniti want to talk about the boxing fight ii went back and i rewatched it anduh uh first things first i thought yougot robbed i thought you won the fightum just thought i’d put that i thoughti’d put out that out thereum but where does your future lie do yousee yourselfboxing i really wanna get started ireally wannai don’t care i’m a fighter i’m born tofight i really don’t careum but i really wanted to get on thisfield because i really wanted to getclarissa shieldsyou know that was my goal it was to getclarissa shieldsum i didn’t like my performance um ididn’t let my hands go i’m a counterstriker that was my first biteso i should haveokay when you watch the fight and you’rewatching tape that’s why i hatedwatching state but i just need to go anddo what i dobut you know you need to as well youknow what i meanum but i didn’t let my hands go andher watching me knowing i was a counterstriker she [ __ ] sat there and waitedon me and i’m like[ __ ] who’s gonna go like so it wasthose things and my coaches like we needto let our hands go and i’m likeyou know i need to let well if i thinkit was there i should have let my handsgo a little bit more toto i mean i know i won they can’t tellme that i didn’t that because iclearly didn’t lose but they couldn’tgive her to win because she clearlywasn’t [ __ ] winningso i just felt like if i would have letmy hands gothen it wouldn’t i wouldn’t have gavethem any excuse to to tie me you knowwhat i mean because come on man we knowthat ain’t no tiredness [ __ ] they hitme more times thanthen i hit her like that come on mancount it up who’s the [ __ ] countwho’s counting on the sideline likewhat’s what’s going onso i just shoulda i just should have letmy hands go i wish i could re-run thatback because then i would justjust smaller like you know what bellrang just get over there and just startsticking her ass outbut um that’s what i kept saying youknow i just want to justum just let my hands go yeah and befirst and last instead of being thecounter i’m so used toin mma just watching somebody dosomething getting out the way andwalking them and when that wasn’thappening then it was likea stalemate you know i mean it was likeokayso i need to learn how to be first andlast andthen i think i’ll be a complete boxerum i want to ask you a couple morequestions you mentioned clarissa shieldsi meanobviously she’s getting so muchattention trans transitioning fromboxing to mmaas someone who’s fought for so long andin my opinion hasn’t gotten the respectthat you deserve i think you should beufc bellator i feel like these shouldbecome these opportunities should begoing your wayum this is a little bit bittersweetseeing all the attention she’s gettingwithout even taking a fightno i mean she’s earned her [ __ ] spotshe’s the [ __ ] champion she isshe didn’t did that woman has definitelyearned her spot you know what i mean andand be who she needed to beand look well at doing it look great atdoing itum i’m excited for it because you’rejust like me you know down transfertransitioning over the beast that she isthat she put in the boxing she’s goingto be a [ __ ] animalin the mma ring you know what i mean soi can’t wait mewait to meet her in any you know youknowuh competition i know she’s gonna begreat she’s uh it’s crazy because weshare the same birthday i knowpisces we’re adamant about what the [ __ ]we’re doing actually the same [ __ ]dayum just the year difference um and iknow she’s going to [ __ ] it up she’sgoing you knowshe’s going to learn her kicks she’sgoing to learn her combination she’sgoing to put her boxingwith it there she’s going to be a[ __ ] monster you know i mean so i’msuper excited about itum not hating on her at all i’m gettingall the attention that you needjust don’t let like like i said i’ll youknow i was reading up on herarticles and you know her uh interviewsand asking hershe ain’t no dumb girl you know sheain’t about to just go on that[ __ ] cage you know with adisadvantageso she’s a very smart girl she knowswhat she needs to do she’s going to getit done andand i believe she’ll be ready for me youstarted mma in 2012 and one of thebiggest things that happened in 2013 waswomen being introduced to the ufc um howdoes it feel for you knowing thatyou are one of the people who areinvolved in the sport since before itwas even in the ufc and your thoughts onthe rise of women mmaum i love it you know what i meani would say i i i’m happythat you know dana white saw somethingin rhonda that made him want to becausewe all know that he said it ain’t gonnabe a woman in the ufc sowhatever the [ __ ] spark he sawwhatever shine he saw he saw itand that allowed us to be there so i’mi’m i’m very proudof rhonda for first [ __ ] shining youknow that light onon on dana and saying hey guess guesswhat ball hit it we can be in this[ __ ] tooso with your ball hitting ass we’regonna need you to make a weight classfor usand then it just slowly starts you knowhe got up to 35 he got us to 15he made the show excuse me the 25 hemade the show for the 15.you know it it it took you know somebodylike that you knowsomebody that was he was [ __ ] runningthrough [ __ ] with this arm bar broso if that open people’s eyes are sayingwomen are doing too she’s in shape shelooks greatgreat great um as well as you know so imeani’m i’m super excited i was superexcited i’m like yesyou know that open you know for my ownmind like oh i i need to get get downthe weight i need toyou know uh well you know not down toher weight but you knowaway since all these weights are comingin i know 45 is coming soon i know 45 iscoming soonso it just got me excited you know gotto got me uhyou know wanting to train harder do doyou know keep doing what i’m doing onthe path what i’m doing because one daywe’re going to get thererhonda did it and she’s opening thedoors for all of us then i’mi was super excited about it you knowand i’myou know uh impressed by herdoing it you know as many fights as shedid and all of them in the first roundlikehe was first fight you know she didn’tkill like 50 [ __ ] in onein the first round in all her fights youknow i mean added up to likeyou know what two people’s fights youknow yeah of twoand she didn’t finish like you know soshe just she’s an outstanding talent youknow one thing was she she did her thingand she did thatand she did it she was she she she was amaster at herat what she did best for rhonda and i’mi’m almost i was i’m just i was happythat hehe saw that and was like you know what iwomen can do it i’m going to let him inhere i’m going to let him in soi was i was super excited about it youmentionedthat division there in the ufc i knowit’s very shallow butit does leave the door open for someonelike you you you have the opportunitynowthat the divisions there um does thatexcite you and is thatultimately the dream to compete underthe ufc bannerit used to be a dream um i’ve livedtherei’m i’m the best you know okay nobodycan being in the ufc doesn’t doesn’tchange my mind about being the best youknow what 145 are inthe ufc that can with me nobody i’lltell you no onei sat out there for the ufc tough enoughshow bro they picked me up 16 that theypicked 16 girlsthey paid for our hotel and everythingto see who’s gonna be on ultimatefighterthey was weak as [ __ ] everybody thatthey picked for the 145 showwas weak as [ __ ] nobody in that roomcould whoop me broyou know all the while cyborg’s sittingin there and i just want to beat yourass right then and thereyou know what i mean let’s just do thisright now you know i mean[ __ ] it i just i just want her i wantthe best for the best you know what imean and that’s what real athletes dothey want the best of the best you saidthis [ __ ] is the best let me have herthe [ __ ] we doing this show for just letme get this [ __ ] soyou know to me it’s just itno it’s not a dream if they want mei might you know but i’m really i’mreally aiming for bellator i really wantbellatoryou know one one of those organizationslike that where we get sponsors and notjust re-bike i don’t [ __ ] wear areebokyou know thanks for the re-clothes freeclothes and all that good [ __ ] but broyou ain’t about to be the only thing onmy [ __ ] shorts when i got realsponsors out here who the [ __ ] is reeboky’all paying dana and then whaty’all the only person on my shorts no idon’t i don’t get that i don’t i don’ti ain’t with that at all you know what imean i ain’t gonna say i don’t i won’ttake a one-fight contract on their assesbut just to be locked in with them no nonot a dream of mineall right i want to ask one lastquestion and then i’ll let you uh youget back to it so for people who haven’tseen youfight but they’ve watched kayla what canthey expect from youon december 17th you will expectheavy hands heavy heavy hands anda magnificent scramble game it’s it’sgonna beit’s gonna be good on the ground youknow that that first oneyou know you can take that i just can’twait to showthe the fight fans my groundwork becausethen you’re gonna be like ohthis is what she said in her interviewyou’re gonna watch both of these legsengageand you’re gonna be like oh my goshshe’s back to her feet already oh yeahi’m gonna look at the first one i didn’tmove my legs because that one was [ __ ]upand i ain’t gonna have no oh you knowany type of thing you know the refereecan stop it for a verbal tap you knowwhat i mean i’m not i’m i was on none ofthat [ __ ]i just try to keep it cool as possibleso they’re gonna basically see thegroundwork that everybody says i don’thaveand so i can’t wait to show it um i’msuper confident umi might just take this [ __ ] down andlet the people know what i’m aboutso uh you know i’m just super excited toshow them and showyou know all my haters uh that you knowi’m i’m that girl all the way around i’ma complete mma fighter and uh that’s allto it i i i really do thisyou know i mean it’s no oh i just go andhit the pads noi don’t need no pass you better go heygo get you go get your toughest goddamnblack belt teacher you gotwho teaching you and i bet you he can’ttap me in fiveand you know i’m just i’m i’m just superexcited to shut everybody the [ __ ] upand then send her back to pfl i love itumanybody you want to thank before we endthis and he’s going to thank the lordjesus christwho is my savior i want to thank all myall my sponsors y’all know who you arefrom the beginning to the end umum my my my team uhyou know all my gyms several gyms y’allknow who worked with me y’all know whoyou know avoided meuh all my teammates all my coaches i got50 000 coachesyou know my muay thai coach my karateand compo i don’t play i need to know atallum i’m just you know my twin sister mygirlfriend umjust everybody and you know again i justwant to thank the lord for allowing thisto happen i prayed on this i prayed onthis i said god give me her outside ofpfl give me her with all my weaponsand without him nothing is possible hedid this so i’mjust blessed and i want to thank you forhaving me onand uh you know getting this interview iappreciate youall right thank you very much for thetime and we’ll have to do this againhopefully when you get your hand raisedon the 17th we’ll have you back onyes sir all right all the best stay safeand uh don’t catch anything before thisfight because i’m excited and everyone’scatching covet sostay safe i’m you too have a good oneall right all the bestbye
Sergio Pineiro: Alright there you go, jozette Cotton. She’s competing against Kayla Harrison on December 17th for Titan FC 66. Everyone seems to want to fight Kayla Harrison right now outside of people in her weight class. It’s a rematch from Hayla Harrison’s second fight um I’m really excited for this one. Be sure to tune in December 17th and if you haven’t make sure you like comment and subscribe and I will see you guys next time
