Is there any stopping Linda Pulido?
Though her competitors tried everything possible, the answer was
no.
Is there any stopping Linda Pulido?
Though her competitors tried everything possible, the answer was no.
The martial artist extraordinaire overcame humid conditions, poor tournament organization and an Italian team that had it out for her knees to claim her third straight single-stick eskrima championship and first in double-stick last week at the WEKAF World Champion Stick Fighting competition in Puerto Vallarta.
“I treat this like my job. I push myself to the limit,” Pulido said.
Pulido, a 13-time world champion in various martial arts disciplines, is now a three-time single-stick champion after successfully defending her title for the second time at the biannual event.
“Right now I know I won, which is cool, but I look at myself sparring and think about what I can do different for next time,” Pulido said. “It’s about how I can better myself for next time, and that may be the key.”
It wasn’t an easy tournament for Pulido, whose events were delayed three days, leaving her to compete in all three events (she also participated in team eskrima) on one day, which equated to 12 matches in one day.
Fighting fatigue and the heat, Pulido struggled through her first single-stick match but managed to get through it.
“My body was dying. Luckily I got through it,” Pulido said. “I barely made it through single-stick. But I thought, ‘man, this is what I came for, I have to do this.'”
Pulido made it to the finals and defeated an opponent from Italy in overtime to have her armed raised as champ.
“It’s a great feeling. It’s fun and I love the challenge,” Pulido said. “I love the pressure. If it’s too easy, I’m like, ‘ah, man.’ I appreciate this (title) a lot because I trained so hard because I knew what the competition was going to be like.”
After a quick snack, Pulido, re-energized, entered the double-stick event and was back to her usual self.
“I remember going out there and just whooping on everybody,” Pulido said.
Her dominance came at a price, suffering bruises on her left leg and a bloody right hand, worn raw from holding the stick.
“I went through that division and my hands were getting torn up,” she said. “This big chunk of meat was just hanging off.”
Despite the wear and tear, Pulido won the welterweight double-stick division.
“That’s what I have been training for,” Pulido said. “I love to compete. If you push yourself super hard and you really want something, I think you can do it.”
Pulido now has two titles to defend at the next WEKAF worlds in 2012.
“Now I know exactly what I need to work on,” Pulido said. “I want to work more on disarms. I don’t want to go four rounds. We are really excited about training for 2012.”
