With Sandy Ryan set for a rematch this weekend against Mikaela Mayer, shes expecting Mayer to attempt to engage her in some pre-fight trash talk in an attempt to rattle her but tells ESPN that she won’t be taking the bait.
“I believe she likes to provoke, unsettle opponents. She knows what I can do and fair play all of her pre-fight antics worked last time, but it won’t work again.”
While reflecting on her first fight with Mayer, which was preceded by a bizarre paint attack on Ryan by an unknown assailant, Ryan admits that it did throw her off of her game a little bit but says he’ll have additional measures and added security this time around to prevent something like that from happening again.
“With that [the paint attack] happening three hours before the fight last year, I believe it did have an effect on me and I fought emotionally, I fought with anger, and it had an effect on how I performed.”
Ryan still holds Mayer’s team accountable for that paint attack, something Mayer denies, and looks forward to securing a win over Mayer on Saturday which will trigger a third fight between them as Mayer has a rematch clause in their contract.