In Recesss
‘I Don’t Want to be in Defense. I Want Them Fighting Me.’
Fort Worth attorney Victoria Cornett talks MMA and why she doesn’t like playing defense.
Witten by Eric Quitugua
The brain is a terrible thing to waste and that couldn’t be more true than in the case of Fort Worth-based attorney and Brazilian jiu-jitsu white belt Victoria Cornett. Keeping her hands up and crown covered is key to maintaining her wits about her in the law and on the mat. But fighters shouldn’t expect to stay toe-to-toe too long with Cornett, who’d much rather wrestle her opponents on the ground. The Texas Bar Journal caught up with Cornett, fresh out of training in mid-March, as she was getting ready for a string of burner fights ahead of her Mixed Martial Arts, or MMA, cage fighting debut in July. “I’m sweeping these 200-pound men I have no business getting off me,” the featherweight said of her training. “But through this art and technique, I can get this guy off me and he can’t do anything about it.”
WHAT LEVEL DO YOU COMPETE IN?
I compete only in IBJJF, which is the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Federation, which is sort of the professional league of jiu-jitsu. And
I’ve competed at their international open and their world masters
tournament in Vegas. They hold it for the black belts, but they also
have a tournament for the white belts. I competed against 16 girls and
got third place in that competition. That’s the biggest stage I’ve
competed at. Those are girls from all over the world. I mostly stay in
Texas because of work reasons—I can’t be traveling far. When I compete
in Texas like in Houston, Austin, and Dallas, it’s mostly Texas and
Oklahoma people.
There are other tournaments like the American Grappling Federation and the North American Grappling Association, but IBJJF is where the professionals go and where you make money doing jiu-jitsu.
Victoria Cornett won third at the IBJJF Houston Open. Photo
courtesy of Victoria Cornett.
HAVE YOU ALWAYS DONE SOME FORM OF MARTIAL ARTS?
In college I did kickboxing and was in a Muay Thai class. The difference
between that is kickboxing is just hands and feet and Muay Thai is eight
limbs: elbows, hands, feet, and knees. I did kickboxing for four years
and when I went to law school, I did kickboxing once a month. I
graduated, got a job, and got back into Muay Thai. The gym I was at was
a jiu-jitsu gym where they offered Muay Thai. The jiu-jitsu people kept
trying to convince me. “Come to the jiu-jitsu side.” “No. Y’all are
gross. I don’t want to be on the ground.” Eventually, they got me over
there. My first day was no gi. You either train in the gi, which is the
thing that looks like pajamas, or you train with no gi. I had this
hairy, sweaty man on me. I was like, What am I doing? This is
disgusting. I’d rather punch from a distance. I don’t want you all up on
me! After two training classes, I was so addicted. I went from
doing Muay Thai twice a week to now I’m at the gym every single day. I
go twice a day a lot of times. When the gym shut down during COVID, this
became my outlet. You don’t realize how much aggression you get out
there; the networking you do. Think of all the melting pot people you
meet on the jiu-jitsu mat. All these weirdos come together to do
something but there’s a community in it. I really like that part of
it.
HOW WOULD YOU CHARACTERIZE SOME OF THE TECHNIQUES AND MOVES
YOU’VE LEARNED?
They’re all over the place. We train wrestling along with jiu-jitsu.
When you start a jiu-jitsu match, you start standing up. And you either
do a takedown or pull guard. When you do a takedown, it’s wrestling,
basically, or judo. I am not a guard puller, which is strictly
jiu-jitsu. I don’t like going guard. Once you take them down, it’s
grappling, which really made me have appreciation for martial arts and
jiu-jitsu versus other martial arts I did. I realized, Wow this
really is an art. I’m sweeping these 200-pound men I have no business
getting off me. But through this art and technique, I can get this guy
off me and he can’t do anything about it.
WOULD YOU SAY YOUR APPROACH IS MORE DEFENSE-CENTRIC? AND HOW
DO YOU READ YOUR OPPONENTS?
When I’m rolling with white belts or people with my rank or around my
rank, I’m going offensive the whole time. I’m not thinking about
defense. When I’m rolling with upper belts, I’m working mostly on my
defense because they’re walking all over me. When I’m competing, I’m
with people in the same weight class, which is the only time because
everybody at my gym is bigger than me. I compete at featherweight and
the closest one in my gym is two weight classes above me. It’s easier
for me to judge how my roll is going to go with someone my own weight
because I have some idea of what their game is going to be like. It’s
really touch and go. When I’m competing, I like to start off offensively
and I like to keep on offense, and if I get onto defense, I want to
switch back to offense as quick as I can. I’ve had less than 10 points
in my whole career scored on me ever because … I don’t like points being
scored on me! I’d rather sit there and keep you down and only get two
points the whole time before I let you touch me. I’m definitely an
offensive player. I don’t like to have people in my guard. I like to be
on top in a mount or side control. And I will die a thousand deaths
before I let someone get on top of me. I do not like being in someone’s
mount or side control. That has never happened to me in competition, and
it will not!
CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT YOUR CAGE FIGHTING?
Yes, so I just switched gyms in February. I’m starting up with new
striking coaches. I want to get into burner fights before the end of the
year to see how the local competition is. I’m at a weird weight class.
There’s not a lot of girls in my weight class. I’m a smaller girl. A lot
of them are bigger and I refuse to go up a weight class. I think there
are two girls in the DFW Metroplex that are in my weight class. One of
them is 36. So I kind of want to fight an older lady. I’m starting today
for my training. I’m starting a striking class at 6:30 to 7:30. I’ll
start doing MMA, and from 7:30 to 8:30 I’ll do jiu-jitsu. I’ll find out
today how the gameplan is going to be.
Victoria Cornett, on the left, competes in the IBJJF Houston Open.
Photo courtesy of Victoria Cornett.
FROM WHAT YOU CAN TELL, WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE IN YOUR
APPROACH IN A CAGE FIGHT VERSUS A NON-CAGE FIGHT?
First, I want to know what my opponent’s strengths are. If they’re a
good striker but they’re terrible at jiu-jitsu, then I’m going to get
you on the ground and we’re going to jiu-jitsu. If you’re a great
jiu-jitsu person and a terrible striker, I don’t want to get to the
ground. We’ll fight on our feet. Right now my coaches want me to work on
staying up because girls my size are usually strikers. I really like to
grapple! What I hated about jiu-jitsu at first was the closeness of it
and now I can’t stand the distance.
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO AND WHAT DO YOU NOT WANT TO DO WHEN
STRIKING?
I don’t want to put my hands down ever. I want to protect my face at all
costs. Because at the end of the day, I’m an attorney. I need this
brain. I need these eyes. I need these teeth. I never want to look at
their feet and I never want to look at their face. I want to look at
their chest. The kiss of death is when I start thinking about my
breathing, looking down, or looking at their face. I need tunnel vision
on their chest.
WHAT’S YOUR PHILOSOPHY WHEN IT COMES TO BRAZILIAN
JIU-JITSU?
Show up and breathe. I know that sounds simple and obvious but it’s
still hard some days. I just don’t have the mental capacity to do this
today. And every single time I just push myself and do it anyway, I come
out thinking I’m so glad I did that. Just show up and jiu-jitsu will do
the rest. While you’re wanting to die while you’re in there, just
breathe. Believe me—there’s 1,000,007 times when you’re just panicking,
and you want to tap because you’re panicking. Just stop and breathe.
TBJ
