Boxing world champ Amanda Serrano discusses submission win at Combate Americas 24: ‘It was pretty cool feeling’

Six-division boxing world champion Amanda Serrano picked up her first win in MMA recently, and the finish didn’t come by way of knockout.

Serrano tapped Erendira Ordonez with a rear-naked choke in the first round of their main event contest at Combate Americas 24 in Arizona. It was Serrano’s first career win in MMA, as she had fought to a draw in her MMA debut last April.

With 26 knockout wins under her belt in the world boxing, many expected Serrano to finish the fight with her striking and not her grappling. Speaking with MMA Fighting, Serrano described what it was like to score her very first win MMA with a submission.

“It was pretty cool feeling, the fingers tapping on me, because I knew it was over,” Serrano recalled. “In MMA, there are so many different ways to wining or losing a fight so I mean, the punches were hurting her, but when I felt the neck, I was like, ‘oh,’ and once I had it in there, I was like, ‘I’m not letting this go until she taps’.

“Some people can take punches but when you have a choke locked in there is just tap or nap.”

Serrano’s submission win over Ordonez marked her first victory in MMA, setting her professional record to 1-0-1. The flyweight fighter is relieved to finally get a victory inside the cage, and admits that the submission added something extra to win.

“It felt great, after the first fight I was like, ‘God, I just need a win,’” Serrano laughed. “So it felt good to get the win, I wasn’t really worried about how I would get it, I was just wanted it. But having the submission makes it even better because now everyone is like, ‘Oh my God, a boxer wins by submission,’ so that was pretty cool.”

Serrano left the cage almost untouched and she’s already back to training. She wants to compete again in 2018, but under what discipline it’s still very much in the air.

“It could be boxing or MMA, or maybe kickboxing, maybe another jiu-jitsu tournament, it could be anything to perfect my craft.”

What’s certain, is that Serrano is satisfied with the progression and development of her MMA career so far.

“I’m extremely happy, now I have a great team behind me, working with Travis Calanoc, who’s worked with Miesha Tate and other great fighters, and his wife Nic Dali, you know, she was one of my training partners for this camp, and I’ve learned a lot from them both.

“It was great to have them on my team and I just cant wait for the future in my MMA career. I continue to learn and I’m a hard worker. I want to perfect the craft and be a well-rounded MMA fighter. The hands I have down packed, I just want to perfect the kicking, the wrestling, the jiu-jitsu and all that good stuff.

“But overall, I’m really happy. This was only my second fight and I felt a lot more comfortable and I knew what I had to do and what was in store for me. So my third, fourth and on I’m just going to continue to grow more confidence.”