Strikeforce: Zoila Frausto ready for Miesha

Photo Jeff Sherwood/Sherdog

SAN JOSE, Calif. (March 24, 2010) — Unbeaten Zoila Frausto (5-0) is getting inundated with ticket requests this week as she prepares to face off at 135 pounds with another top women’s prospect in a STRIKEFORCE Challengers fight card at Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif., on Friday, March 26.

Frausto, of nearby Madera, Calif., will meet Miesha “Takedown” Tate (7-2) of Olympia, Wash., in the STRIKEFORCE cage in a live SHOWTIME® telecast beginning at 11:45 p.m. ET/ PT (delayed on the west coast).

The 26-year-old daughter of a tae kwon do black belt, Frausto won her last fight against Jessica Rakoczy at a Tachi Palace Fights show in February. Frausto answered six questions posed to her recently.

QUESTION: I can imagine you’re getting asked for tickets daily?

FRAUSTO: “Oh, yeah. A lot of people are wanting tickets and shirts and all that stuff. My mom’s handling all that so I just give them her number and she handles all of it.”

QUESTION: What do you think about your opponent Miesha Tate? She’s recently called you out and said that you’re cocky and arrogant.

FRAUSTO: “I don’t think it’s me. It’s all on her. She’s drawing a lot of attention to the fight which is a good thing. But she’s doing it the wrong way. She’s calling me all these names and saying this and that about me and none of that is really me. She’s putting it out there that I’m this bad, cocky, arrogant ghetto person. We’re both in the same sport and I’m a professional fighter. I go out there and train as hard as she does. Why is she painting this picture? I have no idea. It looks like she’s making me out as the bad guy and it’s kind of working. But a lot of people who know me and have seen me train and work out with me know that that’s not the case. It’s really just lit my fire a little bit and I use that as I train and think about it as motivation. It’s brought something out of me as a fighter and athlete that I’ve really never seen. She can talk all she wants but she’s just going to have to bring it on March 26 and I really hope she does because I’m going out there to win in front of my hometown fans and my people. I really hope she’s training as much as she’s talking because she will not embarrass me.”

QUESTION: Facebook or MySpace?

FRAUSTO: “I have both MySpace and Facebook. I use Twitter a lot so wherever I’m at people can see what I’m doing. I like it. It keeps people up to date. It’s all done from my phone so it’s not that hard to do. I’ve been putting photos on there.

QUESTION: You’ve mentioned you think Miesha is checking your fan page online daily. How does that make you feel?

FRAUSTO: “Yeah, I hope she is because that’s just more time away from her training. In fact, I know she’s looking at my MySpace because I made a comment on there that was meant to be funny and she took it the wrong way. From what I hear that’s all she does is sit on the computer and chat on all these forums. People are coming to me all the time saying, ‘You’ve got to check this and check that’ and I just say, ‘No I don’t have time for all that BS.’ I know what is going on and I could care less what people are writing about me because I’m going to bring all of myself March 26. Let her spend her time doing that stuff. If that’s what she wants then it’s all on her. That has nothing to do with me.”

QUESTION: Is this a dream come true for you, fighting for STRIKEFORCE on SHOWTIME?

FRAUSTO: “I know I always wanted to be a professional athlete. I grew up playing a bunch of different sports and doing a bunch of different things but nothing has ever really challenged me like this sport has. We have got to be the best conditioned athletes in any sport. I’m a totally different person now and I love to do this. It is a dream come true for me. I mean to be fighting for STRIKEFORCE? On SHOWTIME? It’s still unbelievable to me. I see my face here or there and people recognize me and it’s still like, ‘Wow, is this really happening to me?’ Am I going to wake up one day and this all be a dream? I’m kind of living the dream and loving it.”

QUESTION: I read somewhere after the last Challenger event in Fresno that all you wanted after the fight was a pizza delivered to you in the locker room. Did you ever get your pizza?

FRAUSTO: (Laughing) “No. I never got my pizza. I actually had to go to the hospital right after the fight because I thought I broke my foot. No pizza delivered. I hope I get it this time. I’m planning on it.”

In the main event, Lavar Johnson (13-3) will face off with another highly touted prospect, undefeated Lolohea Mahe (4-0-1) of Wailua, Maui in the STRIKEFORCE cage. Save Mart Center doors will open for the STRIKEFORCE Challengers event at 6 p.m. PT. The first live, non-televised, preliminary bout will begin at 6:45 p.m.

Tickets for the STRIKEFORCE Challengers event, priced from $30 are on sale at the Save Mart Center box office and select Save Mart Supermarkets, all Ticketmaster locations (800) 745-3000, Ticketmaster online (www.ticketmaster.com) and STRIKEFORCE’s official website (www.STRIKEFORCE.com).