Ebanie Bridges defends IBF belt to Avril Mathie in December
Female IBF Bantamweight champion Ebanie Bridges (9-1, 4KO) spoke extensively to Best Gambling Sites about her upcoming showdown with Avril Mathie (8-1-1, 3KO).
The pair, who both hail from New South Wales, Australia, will clash over 10 three-minute rounds at 118lbs for Bridges' IBF World bantamweight title on December 9 in San Francisco.
The Aussie star previewed her world title defence and also explained all about her relationship with MMA superstar Conor McGregor.
“She's a good opponent for me; she's going to give me work, she's going to be tough, she's got the skills and the heart. But I'm more clever and stronger, but it's going to be a good fight for the fans. And I like her – and I like to give opportunities to people that I like – she's good people and she works hard and if I'm going to give someone exposure then it's going to be someone I like. Not some f***wit that's calling me out and calling me names. There's heaps of fighters doing this, but that's not the way to go about it with me. Why would I give someone a payday if they're being a d***. I'd rather help my friend. Avril and I are good friends. We talk a lot. We are very similar. But when we go through the ropes we are not friends, she's in the way of my goals and my only thought will be to destroy and get rid of them.
“Avril and I both get judged on how we look. She's a swimwear model and I'm always getting called a model. She gets overlooked and underestimated because she's pretty and she's a model but she's been boxing longer than me. She moved over to America to follow her dreams and people look at her and write her off.
“She also does OnlyFans, she gets it. It's all about being seen, and she has a huge following and she's smart. Our brains are very much the same. This will be a showcase of two pretty girls that you write off – because of the modelling or because of the boobs – but we fight and we do come to fight. The way we look doesn't mean we don't take the sport seriously. Just because she wears a bikini and I wear lingerie does mean we don’t take the sport seriously. And it will bring more eyes to the sport because people will want to watch pretty girls fight. They're going to see she can fight and she's tough and having Only Fans and implants has nothing to do with being able to fight.
“The amount of hate I've got because I'm mixing sexy and femininity with boxing because for decades women's boxing has been linked to masculinity. The stereotype of masculine and a bit rough. And if you are pretty and feminine then you're not a good boxer, how can you be? How can you be a model and box? That was the stereotype. But since I came onto the scene, there's a lot more women embracing their femininity. I was the first and that's why I got so much sh*t. But now I do meet and greets and all the little girls want to look like the Blonde Bomber. We are breaking stereotypes, that's what me and Avril are doing.
“I called it the battle of boobs because it will sell. It's all about selling. Eyes on the sport. Eyes on me. If I call it the ‘Battle of the Boobs’ people are going to check it out. It's changing the look of boxing and showing different looks. It's showing you can be a model and be feminine and still box. You don’t need to be masculine if you want to box. It's about showing little girls they don't have to be hairdressers and models, they can do what boys do.”
Ebanie Bridges on her collaboration with Conor McGregor
“I love having Conor in my corner, I love having his support. I've always had his support, even before I won a world title, he’s always supported and encouraged me to keep being me and doing what I'm doing. It’s been great. And having his and the [Forged Stout] team’s support has been even better. We’re growing our friendship even more which is good and he's very inspiring and I think anyone would wish to be in my shoes.
“He uses me for clout really. He's sponsoring me to get his brand out. That's what sponsors do. We met at the AJ fight and I wore his brand there, because he's using me to get his brand out. Otherwise he'd be wearing a stout shirt. But we work together because he knows – me and him – will get people talking about his brand. It's not that I need him, but we both help each other out, we are both an asset to each other's brands, we both help build each other, it's not one-sided. They reached out to me, it wasn't me chasing them.”
“Obviously being attached to one of the biggest sports people in the world, one of the most recognisable names in the world, being attached to that is obviously going to grow my exposure, it’s going get me more fans, it’s going to get me more subscriptions to my OnlyFans. More followers on my Instagram and in the end more money. And in turn, we will both grow from it. It’s a positive in many ways. But I get more hate as well.”
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