On an amateur card in Colorado recently, a game 68-year-old woman named Ann Perez de Tejada got stopped in the first by 2-2 amateur Laura Dettman, 24. Ms. de Tejada is awesome for being willing to step up, but the bout was controversial.

However, in an interview with FOX Sports Latino, de Tejada brushed of any criticism, detailed her background, and said she plans to do it again. She raised four children on her own, and enrolled a son in karate to encourage him to be more active. She’s now a 4th degree black belt in karate, and has a decade of experience in Muay Thai and Jiu-Jitsu.

There was nothing spur-of-the-moment about the fight, or haphazard. It took three years to find an opponent. She trains out of the famed Grudge Training Center a couple of hours a day, and for the fight, she tried to do two a days. And she’s active in local rodeo shows, in horseback riding and barrel racing performances.

Ann Perez de Tejada now holds the record for oldest female MMA fighter. The male record is held by the late John Williams, who fought at the age of 70 in 2010. Perez had reached out to Williams for advice.

He told me, ‘Be prepared for a long and hard struggle,’ said Perez to Rodolfo Roman for FSL.

A lot of people thought they didn’t have much to gain by beating me, but they don’t want to lose. [Dettman] was great that she took the fight.

I had one cut about an inch long. I didn’t get rocked or nothing. I had a couple of bruises and a cut. I get more than that in practice.

I train hard. I don’t just wander out to the cage.

What matters is what you can do. If you can move like a young person or have the skills, then age doesn’t matter. There are people in their 30s sitting on the couch who say ‘I can’t play soccer because I am getting old.’ They say it like they take pride in it, but it’s a bad thing. If you think you are getting old, then you will.

I do it because I love it. I can’t stay away … I’ll do it again.”