Journalist Lucy Wynne interviews Secret Strangle Club sponsored professional athlete and MMA fighter, Amy Derwanz, to discuss her martial arts background and upcoming match on Grapplefest 16.
“I’m trying to make you give up or else you’re trying to make me give up.”
The 20-year-old is currently 3-0 on Grapplefest holding all wins via submission and she plans to repeat history on her fourth appearance. “The plan? Submit her.”
She continued: “I don’t have a submission in mind. I’ll just go for it. I have a few things, I know what she is like, but you can never predict too much.”
Grapplefest always brings a highly-anticipated crowd who go crazy for the matches. Derwanz’s last performance had some tension to it and she managed to grab a quick submission win from the back without her hooks in, against a skilled opponent.
“My last Grapplefest performance, there was a bit of anticipation, I was proud of how I turned my head into it and got the submission fast. That’s my style. The fact I didn’t have my hooks solidifies the joke about me not being a points player.”
Martial Arts Background
Derwanz started jiu-jitsu at 13 years old and has practiced martial arts since she was just four years old. Amy also coaches martial arts and has been coaching striking for the kid's classes since she was 11 and then when she was around 14 years old she began teaching adult classes too.
“Coaching allows me to train full-time and live the life I’ve always wanted.”
Initially, Amy started practicing submission wrestling, before deciding to take up the Gi when she was injured from striking. The MMA fighter hyper-extended her elbow meaning she couldn’t throw punches anymore; she explained how she was taken down and left an arm out, meaning she had a decision to make; she lands on her head or she lands on one arm. Amy said: “It was either my arm or my head.”
The hyperextended arm led to her having an incredibly disjointed and almost un-armbar-able arm however she stated “It’s a gift and a curse”.
Alongside being a Grapplefest veteran, Derwanz has also appeared on Northern Submission Series, Polaris, Empire Grappling Invitational and more. When it comes to potential future shows that Derwanz would like to appear on she stated that she was invited on Eddie Bravo’s Medusa combat jiu jitsu show to compete in the under 125lb tournament - which was a dream of hers - but was unable to make it and would love to have another shot to make her Medusa debut.
Fight Style
Amy claimed her fight style changes all of the time, “I think my style changes all the time, to be honest, because I’m quite fast. Sometimes I run around and try and get in little gaps rather than going slow and with pressure, but at the same time, I’ve started to work on that top game a lot more.
She continued: “I used to be more of a guard player even though I’ve always wrestled. I think it’s just natural being a white belt you’re normally a guard player at first, but once I started getting into my top game, I started to feel more confident trying to pressure through.
“I always thought I was a guard player and then my dad was like ‘Amy you’re a pressure passer you’ I thought ‘No I’m not?’ and I looked back at my competition footage and it’s all me just squishing someone and I thought ‘maybe you’re right...’”
Does MMA improve your jiu-jitsu game?
MMA athletes tend to be very tough competitors in jiu-jitsu because they have that blood-hungry mentality and installed aggression; Amy stated that MMA has helped her jiu-jitsu by allowing her to get comfortable in dominant positions, not fearing the takedown and it always forces her to look for the finish. She states if she hasn’t submitted them or KO’d them that she hasn’t won. Submission defines an inevitable win.
“MMA has helped. Quite a few people say ‘MMA girls are tougher. With MMA it’s about keeping positions, so I’m always trying to look for the finish in MMA. I’ve never liked to win on points. I’ve always wanted to finish it. If I haven’t submitted them or knocked them out, I haven’t won, and if they haven’t done that to me – they haven’t won – it works both ways.
She continued: “It has set me with the mindset of always getting the finish. This isn’t playing. This is a chess match and we are playing but we aren’t playing. I’m trying to make you give up or you’re trying to make me give up.”
As for who she would like to compete against soon? Gabi Schuck appears to be on Derwanz’s radar. The two competed against each other at Empire in the final and due to the high-level Schuck presented, Derwanz wants a rematch.
“I’d like to see if I could get out of her closed guard. It was about six minutes of closed guard. If someone’s going for it – I go for it. She wasn’t holding me in her closed guard and being stale, she was constantly peeling my arms. Other than that – just anyone.”
