Thursday, January 23, 2014

FIGHT CARD AND THE FIGHTER

FIGHT CARD AND THE FIGHTER

JEREMY L.C. JONES, CO-EDITOR OF THE JUST RELEASED CHARITY ANTHOLOGY FIGHT CARD PRESENTS: IRON HEAD AND OTHER STORIES, GIVES US HIS TAKE ON THE PROJECT ...

Fight Card Presents: Iron Head and Other Stories is the first in a series of charity anthologies from the Fight Card authors cooperative – a writers community featuring many of today’s finest fictioneers, including Jory Sherman, Ryan McFadden, Mark Finn, Troy D. Smith, Ed Greenwood,  Jack Badelaire, James Scott Bell, James Hopwood, Bowie V. Ibarra, and Matthew Pizzolato. 

Compiled by Paul Bishop and Jeremy L. C. Jones, 100% of the proceeds from these anthologies will go directly to an author-in-need (in this case, revered western writer Jory Sherman) or a literacy charity. Words on paper are the life blood of a writer.  The writers in this volume were willing to bleed in order to give a transfusion to one of their own – and then continue to bleed to give a transfusion to literacy charities in support of that most precious of commodities ... readers.  They are true fighters, every one ...

FIGHT CARD AND THE FIGHTER

Jory Sherman is a fighter.  He's been in the writing business all of his adult life.  He's been a poet, a journalist, and a novelist.  He’s penned short stories, radio scripts, and autobiographical essays.  In his memoir, he never flinches or falters.  He’s written horror, action-adventure, and westerns, both adult and traditional.  His publication numbers are high.  Short stories? Over 50.  Novels? Well past 500.

On top of all his own writing, Jory has helped out, directly and indirectly, more fellow writers than anyone knows.

Jory Sherman is a fighter.  If he’d been a boxer, he’d be at that part of his career now where he was fighting full time and training up-and-comers on the side.  Yeah, he's been a rookie and champ, but he's never been a ham and egger and he darn sure isn’t a tomato can.  Great footwork.  Good with his hands.  A master out wide and a genius in close.  Endurance, stamina, and courage to spare.  He’s a fighter.  Always has been.  Always will be.  

Within all of all his jobs and roles writer, painter, teacher, husband, soldier, and these days, recreational fisherman there's always been that one thing, that one truth: Jory Sherman is a fighter...And his fighting spirit his fight is rooted in belief, belief in himself, in his characters, in language, in storytelling.

Lately, Jory's been sick.  He also turned 81 in October of 2013.  Every morning he wakes up and writes. "There is nothing to fear," he says in Master Course in Writing.  "All that you need will be given to you through the magic process of writing."

Writing is Jory Sherman’s equivalent of the sweet science.

Jory Sherman is a fighter, though he doesn't box.  He writes.  And this anthology, ten rounds of two-fisted FIGHT CARD action, is a testament to how inspiring a fighter Jory Sherman is.

A boxer steps into the ring and tests himself.  A writer puts pen to paper or fingers to keyboard.  Call it a fight or the drafting of a story or whatever you want.  You put yourself to the test and you see who you are.

If you're lucky whether you’re a writer or a boxer you are never fully alone.  You have your trainer there, your team, your fans, your community.  Someone like Jory Sherman to lend a hand.  

But what if you are Jory Sherman?  What if you’re the guy who usually helps everyone else out?  What do you do then?

About six months ago, I asked Jory if he'd ever written or had any interest in writing fight fiction and he told me a few stories about going to boxing matches with his father as a child in Denver. 

One of these childhood adventures led to Iron Head.  Jory wrote it fast, while juggling two novel deadlines and at least three trips to the VA Hospital per week.

Once we had “Iron Head” in hand, Paul Bishop and I set about finding stories to accompany it.  We needed at least four of equal length, roughly 6,000 words.  Both of us sent out feelers, asking writers we knew if they’d be willing to donate a fight story to a Fight Card anthology.  All proceeds, we said, would go to Jory.

Response was beyond enthusiastic. 

"I love fight fiction!"

"I've always wanted to try a boxing tale."

"Anything for Jory.”

We had a dozen commitments within 12 hours.  Within a week we had enough commitments for more than two full anthologies.  Eventually, we had a roster for four boxing anthologies and at least one Fight Card MMA anthology with plans to continue bi-monthly releases for as long as there is interest.

Not all of the anthologies will benefit Jory Sherman.  Some will benefit literacy programs, literary organizations, or other authors in need.  Fight Card Presents: Iron Head & Other Stories is the first and it was borne out of the generosity that Jory Sherman inspired in others.

As I said above, Jory has been ill lately--very ill.  There have been some close calls.  There have been near misses, emergencies, medications, and hours and hours of dialysis.  The medical bills are excruciating.  Crippling.

But a fighter doesn’t give up, and Jory Sherman is a fighter.

In one of my favorite scenes in this book, a character awakens from a coma and says, “I dreamed about how to defeat him.”

He’s talking about the fighter who put him in that coma.  That’s the way to do it: wake each day fighting.  Never give up.

I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as we enjoyed putting it together.  Thank you for buying it and for helping out an author in need.  I’d also like to thank the authors, all of whom have been exceedingly generous and a real joy to work with.  Jack Badelaire, James Scott Bell, Mark Finn, Ed Greenwood, James Hopwood, Bowie V. Ibarra, Ryan McFadden, Matthew Pizzolato, Troy D. Smith, and, of course, Jory Sherman, it’s great to have you on the Fight Card team.

Keep writing!
Jeremy L. C. Jones
Boiling Springs, SC
January, 2014


 
 

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

FIGHT CARD, CHARITY, AND COMMUNITY

FIGHT CARD, CHARITY, AND COMMUNITY

What is community?  Is it simply a geographic area where people group together while leading separate lives?  Is it a social network composed of friends who like or comment while committing nothing of themselves beyond a mouse click?  Or is true community something stronger, something deeper, something going beyond the individual into compassion and caring for others in thought, effort, sacrifice, and service?

When Mel Odom and I created the Fight Card mandate in 2010 (a series of monthly 25,000 word boxing novelettes ... short, sharp, hard-punching stories inspired by the fight pulps of the '30s and '40s), we had no idea we were creating a community.  However, Fight Card quickly took on a life of its own.

“Build it and they will come,” was the call to action in the iconic baseball novel Field Of Dreams by W.P. Kinsella, but the same creative magic took over Fight Card ... We built a virtual boxing ring to which fighters, writers, and readers have come.

As of this writing, the Fight Card series has extended to thirty titles, with more in the battered and scarred editorial dressing room waiting for their chance to duke it out in publication.  The Fight Card brand has extended to include Fight Card MMA, Fight Card Now, Fight Card Luchadores, Fight Card Sherlock Holmes, and even Fight Card Romance.  

Experienced authors and critically acclaimed newcomers have stepped into the Fight Card ring, going the distance again and again – each delivering a unique, fresh take on the familiar boxing tale of struggle and redemption.  In the process, all of those involved – writers, editors, publicists, readers, cover artists, etc. – have become a community, a caring community.

Fight Card transformed from a publishing brand into a living, breathing,  author cooperative with each writer working off of his own Amazon platform for his/her own Fight Card entry, while being supported by the cooperative – covers, editorial, formatting, publicity, podcasts, etc. – but also supporting the cooperative by furnishing back their own talents in those and other areas.  

For me, Fight Card has become a true joy.  Every day, I get to interact with writers, illustrators, and pulp aficionados from literally around the world. Figuring out the time change for Skyping between California and Australia, Spain, or Ireland regularly makes my head hurt. 

Plus, I’m having a blast bringing these great stories to fruition by taking advantage of the ever-evolving e-book technology to reach an audience in a manner not possible through traditional legacy publishing.  Still, while Fight Card has been on the cutting edge of both the New Pulp and the publishing revolution, I felt we could do more.  Be more.

Which brings us to this anthology.  Part of a true community is giving back to others.  Six months ago, Jeremy L.C. Jones asked me if I’d be interested in helping out an author-in-need by letting him do a quick turnaround writing a Fight Card book.  I’d already been toying with the idea of doing a Fight Card anthology to benefit a literacy charity, but here Jeremy was opening a different sort of door.

Author-in-need might sound redundant.  Aren’t all authors in need – in need of new readers, more book sales, and a solid plot for their next book?  But, this was different. This was need based on health problems, family financial problems – needs that would crush the creativity out of anyone, let alone an experience, revered, writer who, like so many of the rest of us, works the typewriter trapeze without a safety net.

Jeremy and I put out feelers to our Fight Card community and the response was instantaneous.  Without hesitation, a large number of writers – some already part of the Fight Card team, others independent fighters happy to come into the Fight Card fold – willingly offered to write fight stories for not only our initial author-in-need charity effort, but enough to fill a schedule for three other charity anthologies now scheduled for upcoming publication.

Amazing.  

Words on paper are the life blood of a writer.  Hemingway said, There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” These writers were willing to bleed in order to give a transfusion to one of their own – and then continue to bleed to give a transfusion to literacy charities in support of that most precious of commodities ... readers.

In Fight Card Presents: Ironhead And Other Stories, ten writers (Jory Sherman, Ryan McFadden, Mark Finn, Troy D. Smith, Ed Greenwood,  Jack Badelaire, James Scott Bell, James Hopwood, Bowie V. Ibarra, and Matthew Pizzolato, along with cover artist Carl Yonder) take us into the squared circle against a plethora of dangerous, hard-hitting, and deadly opponents – all in the name of community.

100% of the proceeds from these Fight Card anthologies go directly to the designated author-in-need or chosen literacy charity.  There are no monies taken for administrative costs or any other incidentals.

This is what community is all about.  I am humbled to be a part of it and honored to work with not just the writers and artists represented in this volume, but also in the others to come.

In buying this anthology, you too are part of our community, part of something larger ... part of going the distance ... of not leaving those in need behind ...

Keep punching!

Paul Bishop
Los Angeles, January, 2014



 

FIGHT CARD UPDATE!

FIGHT CARD UPDATE!

The Fight Card team is excited to announce the release of our first ever Fight Card CHARITY anthology. Part of the Fight Card mandate as an author’s cooperative is to give back to our community.  This debut project, Fight Card Presents: Iron Head & Other Stories – Ten Rounds of Fight Fiction for Charity, is the first step.  Three other charity anthologies will follow during the course of 2014.  If you would like to provide a story, please contact either myself or Jeremy L. C. Jones.

One hundred percent of all royalties from these anthologies will go directly to an author-in-need or a literacy charity.  Royalties from our debut charity anthology will go directly to ailing western writer JORY SHERMAN, whose family has been financially devastated by medical bills related to Jory’s illness. Jory is a revered writer known primarily for his award winning westerns, but has also written in many other genres.  He has also been a mentor and good friend to many other writers.  

Fight Card Presents: Iron Head & Other Stories is a 60,000 word anthology of two-fisted action by authors from multiple genres, There's Jack Badelaire, James Scott Bell, Mark Finn, Ed Greenwood, James Hopwood, Bowie V. Ibarra, Ryan McFadden, Troy Smith, Matthew Pizzolato, and Jory Sherman writing the title story. There's also a foreword by Paul Bishop, an introduction by Jeremy L.C. Jones, and a cover by Carl Yonder. 

It is particularly important to help us spread the word about this anthology via blogs and social networks.  Please help us make a difference two dollars and one punch at a time!

FIGHT CARD PRESENTS: IRON HEAD & OTHER STORIES

Fight Card Presents: Iron Head & Other Stories is the first in a series of charity anthologies from the Fight Card authors cooperative – a writers community featuring many of today’s finest fictioneers, including Jory Sherman, Ryan McFadden, Mark Finn, Troy D. Smith, Ed Greenwood,  Jack Badelaire, James Scott Bell, James Hopwood, Bowie V. Ibarra, and Matthew Pizzolato. 

Compiled by Paul Bishop and Jeremy L. C. Jones, 100% of the proceeds from these anthologies will go directly to an author-in-need (in this case, revered western writer Jory Sherman) or a literacy charity. Words on paper are the life blood of a writer.  The writers in this volume were willing to bleed in order to give a transfusion to one of their own – and then continue to bleed to give a transfusion to literacy charities in support of that most precious of commodities ... readers.  They are true fighters, every one ...

Much more coming from Fight Card in 2014 ... So, hang on and ...

Keep punching!


Friday, January 10, 2014

FAST FIVE WITH SAM HAWKEN

FAST FIVE WITH SAM HAWKEN

FIGHT CARD MMA: ROSIE THE RIPPER AUTHOR SAM HAWKEN (WRITING AS JACK TUNNEY) GIVES A SHORT SHARP INTERVIEW ON PAUL D. BRAZILL’S BLOG, YOU WOULD SAY THAT, WOULDN'T YOU?

Fight Card opens round one of 2014 with a scorching Fight Card MMA entry, Rosie The Ripper, from critically acclaimed writer Sam Hawken (writing as Jack Tunney).  He is the author of The Dead Women Of Juárez, Tequila Sunset, Juárez Dance, La Frontera, and the Camaro Espinoza novellas.  Fight Card MMA: Rosie The Ripper is his first Fight Card entry …

The genesis of Rosie The Ripper was a little different than all the other Fight Card entries since it started with a cover without a story.  How did that work for you?

I wrote in an essay everyone can find on the Fight Card site (www.fightcardbooks.com) about how I’m a very visual person, and what’s more I happen to be intensely interested in women’s MMA.  With the Rosie cover, the two of these things collided and immediately I started thinking, “I need to write this thing because it’s right up my alley.”  The only problem I had was I couldn’t come up with something that would fit the Fight Card format.  It took me close to a year of ruminating on that cover, coming back to it periodically, until I finally figured out how to make it work.  It was so easy in the end that I’m not sure what took me so long.  It helps that the cover (by Keith Birdsong) is great because you want a great story to go along with it and that inspires you to keep trying. 

FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW CLICK HERE

FIGHT CARD MMA: ROSIE THE RIPPER

Baltimore, 2014 ... Rosie Bratton is a recovering alcoholic. Divorced, working a dead end job, and with a young daughter she only sees on alternate weekends, her life is going nowhere.  Her hopes hang on the outcome of a custody battle to regain primary custody of her daughter, and the vague possibility things might get better together.

When circumstances turn bleak, Rosie nearly retreats into the bottle, but her sponsor has a solution. Felix was once a mixed martial arts contender. Now, he’s turned his talent toward teaching his skills to others. If Rosie becomes his student, he hopes she can learn how to be a stronger, focused, better person.

Some people are born to fight – in the cage and out – and Rosie is one of them. When she’s given the moniker Rosie the Ripper, she becomes something more than she was before – and it may be enough to give her a fighting chance …


Monday, January 6, 2014

WRITING FIGHT CARD MMA: ROSIE THE RIPPER

WRITING FIGHT CARD MMA: ROSIE THE RIPPER

SAM HAWKEN

I’m a pretty visual person. When I was younger, I wanted to direct movies and only gave up that dream when I discovered making movies required large amounts of money, which I never had. Far, far cheaper to make paper movies out of words. And so it goes.

When Paul Bishop first announced the Fight Card MMA line, he posted a picture of a mock-up cover done by Fight Card artist Keith Birdsong. The cover was a dynamic image of a woman in mid-punch and the title was Rosie the Ripper. Seeing this got me thinking. It was that visual part of my brain going to work.

I’d been aware of the Fight Card series and read a few, but it wasn’t until I saw Rosie and those magic letters, MMA, pop up that I felt I could actually write one of these things. A long-dormant novel idea about a boxer in Baltimore never really seemed to get anywhere, but Rosie the Ripper kept asking for my attention as the weeks and months went by until finally her storyline came springing into my head, ready to be written.

Mixed martial arts hits some strange, buried sweet spot even boxing – a sport I’ve followed for decades – has never managed to touch. There’s something about the mixed part of mixed martial arts that really gets me interested, as there are so many technical elements that go into the execution of a successful fight. Boxing is intricate and far more complex than non-fans give it credit for, but MMA is a whole other level. Striking, clinching, grappling, submissions – it goes on and on. And for me, anyway, some of the most interesting MMA is happening with women fighters.

There have been female boxers for time out of mind, but MMA has integrated women into the sport in a much more organic way. Rosie the Ripper was my chance to translate some of that feminine energy into an action-packed fight story. But I’d go one better and place a layer of drama over the raw physicality. Drama geared specifically toward family, personal tribulations, and redemption.

The very best fight movie ever made is Rocky, and though Rocky Balboa was a gofer for a small-time loan shark, his story was never about crime. It was about heart. There was his relationship with Adrian and Mickey, and his struggle to actualize himself as a person. I didn’t think I could reach those Oscar-winning heights, but I could at least try to create a human portrait of a woman and her life in MMA.

Rosie Bratton is a fighter – a given in a Fight Card tale – but she comes to her fight the long way round. Divorced, with a young daughter she only sees on alternate weekends, Rosie’s first real battle is with the bottle. When her custody struggles with her successful ex-husband turn sour, she feels a renewed pull toward drink.

Her AA sponsor, Felix Treviño, recognizes the signs and know she needs something on which to focus her disparate energies. Once upon a time, in another life, Felix was an MMA contender, and he has turned his skill toward training others like his niece, Tina. For Felix, MMA is not only a path toward physical strength, but also toward mental toughness and stability.  He believes MMA training is what Rosie desperately needs.

I believe in fight training’s ability to form positive connections in a person’s life. I’m in my forties now and pretty much settled, but there was a time when I was not so old and not so settled, and for a time I took solace in learning to box. I was never any good, and I never progressed to the point where I was even safe to be in the ring sparring with another human being, but I did learn and I did feel better. In the intervening years, I’ve wished I’d stuck with it, because as a body slides into middle age the spirit is willing, as they say, but the flesh is weak.

From time to time, I’ll see an advertisement on the side of the road for some Brazilian jiu-jitsu place.  There is also a gym right down the road from me, which sponsors actual, honest-to-goodness professional MMA fighters. I sometimes consider these things and I wonder if maybe there’s enough gas left in the tank to roll with the young guys and learn a thing or two. Then I remember I get winded eating a particularly large salad and the thought is whisked away.

One thing a guy like me can do, however, is read and write about the sport. I’m heavily into it in a way I wasn’t just a few years ago – and I pay particular attention to WMMA. I spend a surprising amount of my time keeping up with developments in the mixed martial arts world, so I suppose it was inevitable I would write something like Rosie the Ripper, even if Paul Bishop hadn’t done me such a big favor by posting that cover so long ago.

I see fight fiction as a natural extension of fandom. There was time in the ‘30s and ‘40s when boxing was very much a mainstream sport. However, when men (and it was mostly men) weren’t watching boxing matches or reading The Ring, they were snapping up pulps written by authors like Robert E. Howard. Sports fiction of all sorts was big back then’  Along with boxing there were pulp magazines for baseball and football – and even basketball. No one thought it was odd to read such things.

Now, though, things are different. The pulps of yesteryear have all gone away. Football fans don’t read Football Action anymore and Baseball Stories doesn’t exist. There are still those who seek out these old entertainments on eBay or at estate sales, but by and large, the pastime of reading fiction about favorite sports has died. 

There is no good reason for this to be the case. I expect Paul Bishop and Mel Odom, who inaugurated the Fight Card brand, feel much the same way. Why not bring back the old days, but with a new twist?  Like fashion, everything old can be new again …

If I’m any example of this, you can use me to prove the point: people will read sports fiction if it’s made available. And, as combat sports like MMA grow in visibility and popularity, now is the perfect time to introduce enthusiasts to the pleasure of fight stories. There’s no one to tell anyone it’s wrong, bad or weird to extend their enjoyment of MMA or boxing into their reading lives. In this respect, Fight Card is doing both fighting sports and fiction a huge service.

I now get to be a part of it all – and Rosie does, too. Alongside the various bruisers and brawlers of the Fight Card family, this determined single mother has punched her way into her own story. And I get to do something I love: write about fun stuff. Sure, I know MMA can be vicious and bloody, but it’s also full of great yarns about heart, perseverance and triumph. And that’s just the real fighters! The situation goes into overdrive once the fictioneers get involved in the process.

That cover of Rosie the Ripper gave me the first inkling of an idea that maybe I could do this. Maybe I could write the sort of thing fight fans would enjoy. I’d made my bones with bleak, despairing crime fiction, but here was something altogether different. 

I could stretch myself in ways I hadn’t done before, could balance on a high wire strung between action and drama with no net underneath. I could write about hope and the unbreakable spirit of a fighter. Aren’t these the kinds of things that draws all of us to the cage or the ring? We want to see the punches and the kicks and the vicious submission holds, but we also want to know two people are giving their all to fight three rounds and come away victorious. Two real, flesh-and-blood people who have all their dreams tied up in the moment when the referee raises their hand.

So maybe I pulled it off. Maybe I didn’t. The point is, I gave it my best shot. I worked hard, I visualized the victory and, when the time came, I threw those punches just as hard and as fast as I could. I may not ever do so much as exchange pitter-pat strikes with another MMA student on the mats in some gym, but I feel like I stood beside a woman who did that and more. Rosie’s triumphs are my triumphs, her failures my own. I imagine pretty much any writer in the Fight Card stable would say the exact same thing about their protagonists. That’s the thing about fight fans: we put ourselves at the end of those punches.

And as it happens, I think Rosie the Ripper might also make a pretty good movie. I’m available to direct.

FIGHT CARD MMA: ROSIE THE RIPPER 

Baltimore, 2014 ... Rosie Bratton is a recovering alcoholic. Divorced, working a dead end job, and with a young daughter she only sees on alternate weekends, her life is going nowhere.  Her hopes hang on the outcome of a custody battle to regain primary custody of her daughter, and the vague possibility things might get better together.

When circumstances turn bleak, Rosie nearly retreats into the bottle, but her sponsor has a solution. Felix was once a mixed martial arts contender. Now, he’s turned his talent toward teaching his skills to others. If Rosie becomes his student, he hopes she can learn how to be a stronger, focused, better person.

Some people are born to fight – in the cage and out – and Rosie is one of them. When she’s given the moniker Rosie the Ripper, she becomes something more than she was before – and it may be enough to give her a fighting chance …


AVAILABLE NOW ~ FIGHT CARD MMA: ROSIE THE RIPPER!

AVAILABLE NOW ~ FIGHT CARD MMA: ROSIE THE RIPPER!

SAM HAWKEN WRITING AS JACK TUNNEY 

Baltimore, 2014 ... Rosie Bratton is a recovering alcoholic. Divorced, working a dead end job, and with a young daughter she only sees on alternate weekends, her life is going nowhere.  Her hopes hang on the outcome of a custody battle to regain primary custody of her daughter, and the vague possibility things might get better together.

When circumstances turn bleak, Rosie nearly retreats into the bottle, but her sponsor has a solution. Felix was once a mixed martial arts contender. Now, he’s turned his talent toward teaching his skills to others. If Rosie becomes his student, he hopes she can learn how to be a stronger, focused, better person.

Some people are born to fight – in the cage and out – and Rosie is one of them. When she’s given the moniker Rosie the Ripper, she becomes something more than she was before – and it may be enough to give her a fighting chance …


Sunday, January 5, 2014

FIGHT CARD PRESENTS: AN ANTHOLOGY FOR CHARITY!

FIGHT CARD PRESENTS: AN ANTHOLOGY FOR CHARITY!

COMING IN TWO WEEKS ... TEN ROUNDS OF FIGHT FICTION FOR AN AUTHOR-IN-NEED ...

FIGHT CARD PRESENTS: IRON HEAD AND OTHER STORIES ...

THIS IS A CHARITY ANTHOLOGY ... ALL PROCEEDS WILL GO DIRECT TO AN AUTHOR-IN-NEED ...

TEN GREAT WRITERS:  JORY SHERMAN, MARK FINN, ED GREENWOOD, JAMES SCOTT BELL, BOWIE V. IBARRA, RYAN MCFADDEN, TROY D. SMITH, JACK BADELAIRE, JAMES HOPWOOD, MATHEW PIZZOLATO ...

COVER BY CARL YONDER ...

EDITED BY PAUL BISHOP AND JEREMY L.C. JONES

MORE DETAILS TO FOLLOW ...

COMING THIS WEEK! FIGHT CARD MMA: ROSIE THE RIPPER!

COMING THIS WEEK! FIGHT CARD MMA: ROSIE THE RIPPER!

SAM HAWKEN WRITING AS JACK TUNNEY

Baltimore, 2014 ... Rosie Bratton is a recovering alcoholic. Divorced, working a dead end job, and with a young daughter she only sees on alternate weekends, her life is going nowhere.  Her hopes hang on the outcome of a custody battle to regain primary custody of her daughter, and the vague possibility things might get better together.

When circumstances turn bleak, Rosie nearly retreats into the bottle, but her sponsor has a solution. Felix was once a mixed martial arts contender. Now, he’s turned his talent toward teaching his skills to others. If Rosie becomes his student, he hopes she can learn how to be a stronger, focused, better person.

Some people are born to fight – in the cage and out – and Rosie is one of them. When she’s given the moniker Rosie the Ripper, she becomes something more than she was before – and it may be enough to give her a fighting chance …