Freshly Inked Interview with Megan Anderson

So my first question is, was MMA fighting, was it like love at first sight for you? Um, I guess, yeah, it kind of was like, I wanted to, I knew that if it was something that I was interested in that I would fight but it was something that I picked up relatively quickly. So I knew that down the line like I was going to fight, but really it was more of just like self-defense. I kind of was just seeing if I like it. And I did.

And you just got started with the bark box affiliate. What is that exactly? It's super exciting. So it's every month they send you items based on your dog and his breed, his age or her age and they send you treats and toys for them every month. And it's great because they have, like if you have a dog that's a really big chewer and chews through everything they have toys they have like their super chewer kind of pack. Like for Odin, he's a puppy. So they're going to send him like a lot of stuff that is going to help with teething and all that kind of stuff. It's really, really great. I love it and I'm excited to keep getting it.

What job do you think that you'd have if you didn't get into MMA?
I really have no idea. I never really had like any, I don't have any qualifications or anything like that. Um, I've been to uni or college, is what you guys call it here. I'd been a few times that I have, I've almost completed a few degrees that those never really anything I was interested in I guess like if I really, if I really had to think about it, I'd love to work with like troubled teens and stuff like that because I feel like, you know, my story and my upbringing and I feel like I'm able to relate to them a lot, and maybe help them in some ways. So that's probably something that I'd be interested in if I wasn't fighting. 

And do you have any tattoos right now that represent your MMA career? Um, no I don't. 
 Do you have any ideas in the making? Not really. I never really thought about getting an MMA tattoo. I just have everything else!
One thing that you have that we liked, is you have the word life behind your ear, what inspired you to get that in that location?
So my dad is Scottish. He was born in Scotland and what it is, it's a "Pictish" symbol, which is the ancient people of Scotland. It's a symbol for life and I really like it. I got it behind my ear because it's something small. It's like a place that like you can kind of see it, but sometimes you can't, like keep my head down and stuff like that. So it's kind of hidden but not if my hair is up. I was going through a really, really hard time and I had been in the hospital for mental health and stuff like that and I, you know, I was, through it and it was kind of like I got that, I think when I really like really okay, like I got through that period in my life and I was kind of like on the other side. 
And another amazing one is you have a tattoo of a woman's face on your leg. What inspired that one? 
Well, on my leg I'm trying to do my whole leg sleeve and it's Viking themed. So the girl and the side is the Valkyrie. Um, I really liked that, you know, that I have her there because, you know, valkyries are like warriors. They're, they're strong, they're amazing women and I feel, you know, I aspire to be strong independent, like someone who inspires people and I hope that I can help other people, you know, feel that way about themselves as well.  

What's your favorite tattoo?
I have this really small tattoo and a lot of people kind of miss it because it's on the inside of my wrist, it was a filler piece that came together kind of last minute while we were filling in the spot. It's like a mini graveyard like it has tombstones and it's like on a hill. It has a fence and a tree with no leaves, the full moon, and one of the tombstones says R.I.P. It's really cool. That's my favorite.

And going back to what we talked about earlier, if you didn't get involved in MMA, you used to do reception/administrative work. What you do now is obviously more physical, do you prefer having a more active job?
 Yeah, I do, it used to drive me crazy. You're sitting in a desk all the time and like it, it really also depends on the job, like, sometimes you get a shitty boss or work gets a little bit more tedious. I definitely like having a more active job. Admittedly though like it is a lot more tiring and sometimes I need a nap in the middle of the day because I'm so tired, because I train all the time. But I definitely like being physical with my job now. 

And when you first started and then they fighting, what did your family and friends, were they surprised? My Mom was kind of really surprised and she thought I was gonna, like eventually just quit and do something else. And it was just something that I've stuck with and eventually I kept winning fights and she was like, oh, well maybe you are kind of okay at this. They've always been supportive. They've supported my move over here, they supported everything. So I'm super grateful for the support of my family. 

And fighting can be dangerous. What's the worst injury you've gotten so far?
 I've never really gotten any injuries. Um, I've never been injured in a fight, but I know I have been injured in training. I've dislocated my shoulder and tore my ac joint a few years ago. As well as uh, what else did I do? I've torn my ankle, the joint of my ankle, ligaments and that wasn't pleasant either. But that's really the extent of my injuries. There's always like muscle soreness and that kind of stuff or like you get a knee to the thigh and you're like, ouch, but that's kind of was really it. I've been pretty blessed when it comes to being injury free. 

And becoming a well-known fighter and having fans what's like the weirdest experience you've had with a fan approaching you? 
Um, I've had like people at like, like I was at Freddy's a few weeks ago, like right after my fight and I had a fan come up to me and try and tell me everything I needed to work on and stuff like that. It's like, "...okay," like it's fine. Like I'm used to people coming up to me and stuff like that it's just still like a really weird notion to me that like people recognize me and like it was just so weird, because I was with a friend eating and this person's like interrupting our dinner to tell me what I needed to work on. And I was like, oh, can we... can we not do this? I just want to eat my burger. 
I always get people online and be like, oh, can you knock me out? I want to be punched really hard. And I'm like, you are weird, sir. 
 

So before you joined MMA, were you a fan of any particular MMA fighter?
 I'm not really.  I never really had an idol or anything like that in MMA and I still really don't. There are people that like, I liked their fighting style and stuff like that, but I never really, I guess idolized anyone or looked up to anyone. I'm like a firm believer that like we're all our own individual. So I'm like, I don't, I'm not a big fan of people trying to emulate other people. I understand like there's parts of different people that you can take, that you know might work for you or you like how this person interacts with the public or how this person speaks, but like I think, you know, we're all individuals and you should embrace that. Don't try to be like anybody else.

And working around other women with a mix of personalities. Was it difficult to make connections or friendships with other people? (other women that you work around or that you see when you're doing training or do you train mostly by yourself? )
 I've mostly trained with guys, like there are a few girls at the gym but they're all like a lower weight class. So like I don't really train with them. Some of them I actually helped coach and like I'll do stuff with them and there's a lot of them are just starting out their kind of MMA career. I try to help them out as much as I can and kind of impart that knowledge that, you know, I just wish somebody had told me back then.

It's good to hear women supporting each other women and not being jealous of each other because you see a lot of that like in social media sometimes.
And like admittedly there are times like I look at like, I have a lot of my own issues and stuff like that. There's like, I have a lot of issues with the way I look in my own insecurities. So sometimes it is hard going on social media and seeing other people who I think are, you know, amazing and they're pretty and I'm like, man, I wish I was like that or stuff like that. 
But it's like they're on their own journey and I'm on mine. They're doing what they're doing, it doesn't have anything to do with me and what I'm doing has nothing to do with them. So I just have to realize like, my time will come and I will get the recognition I deserve and I'll get that by putting in the hard work. 
I feel like we all are inspired by people and also have our own insecurities. So it's like this weird kind of cycle that we go through. Like someone I think is inspiring or might find me inspiring and like vice versa, like it's just so crazy how we all kind of like interact like that. 

And for women or girls out there facing like on social media, what's your advice or your words of wisdom for them? Bullying online has become more common, because now bullies can hide behind their computer. 
Oh, I know. I've had a lot of that. I get that, a lot of that, every post I put up has someone who always got something to say honestly. There's no point in trying to like pretend it's not there. It's so hard because you tell someone not to look at the piece of paper but like that's what they want to do. They're going to. They're like, oh, I need to look at it. It's just ingrained in their heads like, oh, someone tells me not to do something, that's what I want to do. So it's hard to try and tell people, like young women, to just ignore it because that's a lie. Like you're going to see it, you're going to see it every day, like even if you don't try to you; it just happens. You're going to see a comment here and there and like it's going to get you down. 
But honestly I think the biggest thing for me was, these are people who don't know you, you've never met them and they don't know who you are. They don't know what type of person you are, they don't know your work ethic, they don't know how much of an amazing person you are. All they see is what they want on social media and like you have to really think about it being this: this is someone that really shouldn't hold any value in your life. 
This is someone who you've never met. So it's really, I guess it's really more about learning to accept who you are as a person and only valuing the people that really matter. Like your family. We find people like your close friends or coaches or teachers or whoever you can really confide in, or that you trust implicitly with like helping you grow or helping your career, or helping you become the person you want to be like, you find those people and then they're the people that you trust. They're the people that you listened to.