Julia Blankinship The Hank Russell Invitation interview

In the Julia Blankinship The Hank Russell Invitation interview, the Arizona Muay Thai fighter discussed her scheduled Monster Promotions bout with Skylar Musa in Flagstaff, a proposed change from 112 to 115 pounds, and the help she gets from boyfriend and coach Damien Early during fight camp.

What did Julia Blankinship say about her next fight with Skylar Musa?

Julia Blankinship is scheduled to face Skylar Musa on a Monster Promotions card in Flagstaff, Arizona. Blankinship said the fight was originally planned for 112 pounds, but Musa could not make that weight, so they would try for 115. Blankinship expects a good fight against an opponent whose hands have impressed her.

Skylar Musa’s fights and Las Vegas gym

Blankinship does not know Musa personally. She said she had watched some of Musa’s fights, knew she came from a good gym in Las Vegas, and thought Musa had recently been in Thailand. Those observations, rather than a personal history between the fighters, informed her expectations for the matchup.

The proposed move to 115 pounds

The weight change was still a plan when Blankinship spoke with The Hank Russell Invitation: she said they were going to try for 115 pounds after the original 112-pound arrangement could not go ahead. She also corrected a fight tally the host had seen, saying she had competed five times and held a 1–3–1 record.

Blankinship said several fighters from Arizona were on the card. Her bout was expected to be roughly seventh in the running order, though she described that placement as an estimate rather than a confirmed position.

How did Julia Blankinship begin Muay Thai with Master Bob?

Julia Blankinship began Muay Thai through her father, who trained with her head coach, Master Bob. She said they encouraged her to go to the gym after college, and its proximity to where she lived made starting straightforward. Her connection to Thai culture became more important to her after she began training.

Her father’s connection to Master Bob

Blankinship has trained in Muay Thai for about four and a half years. When she finished college, her father suggested trying the gym near her home. She started going, building on years spent playing Soccer through elementary school and high school rather than on any fighting experience she described from college.

Her family connection to Thailand

Her mother is from Thailand, but Blankinship was clear that her heritage was not the original reason she took up Muay Thai. She said it has been nice to get deeper into the culture through the sport. She visited Thailand as a child but had not returned as an adult.

Blankinship also spoke about the appeal of watching Muay Thai there. She described the atmosphere at a stadium in Thailand and said attending a fight in the country would be a different experience from the live fights she had already seen.

What did Julia Blankinship say about fighting in TBA tournaments?

Julia Blankinship said the Monster Promotions bout would be her first fight outside a tournament. Her previous competition included TBA events with livestreams, but she distinguished those tournament appearances from a standalone bout. In her most recent tournament, she fought more than once, which she found physically demanding.

There had not usually been many women in her weight bracket, Blankinship said, so the last tournament was her first experience of having multiple fights in that format. The extra bouts gave her more competition, but they also meant managing the strain of fighting again after an earlier match.

Waiting added another challenge. She described sitting among the crowd while other fights took place, unsure exactly when her own bout would come around. For Blankinship, the difficulty was not just the number of fights; it was staying ready through a long event while dealing with the toll those fights took on her body.

What did Julia Blankinship say about Muay Thai training and Soccer?

Julia Blankinship said running during a Muay Thai fight camp feels harder to her than running in Soccer. Soccer gave her a ball to pursue and teammates to play with; camp runs come after hours of other training. Outside the gym, she works as a nurse.

Blankinship played Soccer throughout her school years before taking up Muay Thai after college. She did not suggest that Soccer required little running. Her distinction was about how that work felt: during a game, the immediate goal and the people around her provided distractions that a training run does not.

Describing why camp runs are harder for her, Blankinship put it this way:

when we run in Muay Thai training, we're like dying already from the hours of training we're already doing.

She earned her bachelor’s degree at Northern Arizona University and attended the University of Arizona for nursing school. Her work as a nurse sits alongside the fight camps she described, though she did not give a detailed account of how she schedules the two.

What did Julia Blankinship say about Damien Early and her walkout song?

Julia Blankinship said her boyfriend, Damien Early, is also one of her coaches at Golden Era. She values having a partner who understands fight camp, while making a conscious effort to separate their relationship from his coaching. For her walkout, she chose a song by Lisa that connects with her interest in Thai culture.

Damien Early as boyfriend and coach

Early knows how hard camp can be and can help Blankinship through it, she said. The complication comes when coaching advice might feel personal because it comes from her boyfriend. Her approach is to hear it as a student receiving direction from a coach, not as a girlfriend reacting to her partner. She said they have found a good separation between those roles.

Lisa’s song for the walkout

Blankinship had another walkout choice in mind before Lisa released “Swati Ka.” She chose the new song because it felt right for the occasion. In explaining the pick, she noted that Lisa is from BLACKPINK, is Thai and also releases music on her own.

Who helped Julia Blankinship prepare for Monster Promotions in Flagstaff?

Julia Blankinship credited her coaches at Golden Era and her sparring partner Shay with helping her prepare for the Monster Promotions card. She said the amateur event was set for Flagstaff, Arizona, on Saturday the 10th, with a 4 p.m. start and a stream on MILLIONS.

Blankinship singled out Shay while thanking the partners and coaches she trained with. She said she could not have done the preparation without them. She also thanked Monster Promotions, which was putting on the card.

According to Blankinship, organizers had initially tried to arrange an all-female main card for breast cancer awareness. After losing a few fights, they changed course and mixed the remaining bouts together. She expected her fight to fall around seventh on that revised card.