Keri Anne Taylor-Melendez is aware of the expectations that accompany her name.
As the wife of an ex-Strikeforce lightweight champion and former UFC title challenger, Taylor-Melendez, who faces Hadley Griffith in a kickboxing bout at Bellator 142 “Dynamite,” isn’t your average promotional newcomer.
“There definitely is a little bit more pressure,” Taylor-Melendez told Sherdog.com. “I’m definitely new to all these interviews. I feel like just training really hard, I feel put together right now. It makes me feel at ease going into the fight.”
While Taylor-Melendez is no stranger to the combat sports circuit -- she’s been kickboxing for the past nine years and most recently fought this past March -- she hasn’t competed on a stage quite as large as the one she will occupy at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif.