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Page 1 of 3 Interview with Lana Stefanac, USA liaison/manager/captain for Team USA-Ladies of Pain
By Astrid Bidanec  There is no doubt that women fighters put on as good of a show as men. Yet, they are seriously under-represented and under-valued at any MMA event. Times are changing though, thanks to the trail-blazing Ladies of Pain-Team USA. Will you watch them when they take over the pay-per-view landscape by storm? Get ready to witness the exciting forging of MMA history in their upcoming all-women's fight card in New Zealand.
Photo courtesy of Lana Stefanac
(left to right) Renee Wilson, "Lethal" Lana Stefanac, Shawn "Little Bit" Tamaribuchi, Elaina "Beef" Maxwell, Kat "Kitty Kat Alendal
Astrid: How many ladies are on your team?
Lana: Currently, we have an active fighter list and an inactive one. By inactive we mean not scheduled for an event right away. Actively, we have about five professional mma women and iIn total about eight. I am highly involved with promoting women's mma and bjj, my team members are growing all the time with increased interest in my current project.
Astrid: What motivated you to form a team?
Lana: I formed The Ladies of Pain - Team USA because women, in order to be taken seriously, need to be respected for their ability to fight and compete, which is in my opinion, being accomplished by promoting an all female card. Currently, women are always under cards, even the well known fighters who have established themselves. Its also my opinion that a women's fight organization will produce its own stars and give women in different weight divisions a chance to accelerate their career. As it stands, ALL women are expected to or are forced to compete in the 135lbs-division. This is ludicrous.
Astrid: How did you come up with the name? Lana: House of Pain sponsored me for the "Art of War" card recently in Dallas, Texas. It was a great event and HOP treated me very well. As the top female in my division, its still hard to find sponsorship because of the gender issue. I luckily made a big name for myself in the grappling world first which made sponsorship acquisition a little easier. When I notified HOP of my intentions to form a team to compete on the 1st ever international women's mma fight event, they did not hesitate in saying, "we have your Team USA gear sponsored all the way!" This is going to blow up, and I will remain loyal to HOP for being there for us when nobody else was. So, naturally, Renee Wilson came up with the name "The Ladies of Pain" to describe who we were and give respect to HOP.
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