Shelby Cannon is someone who sings the praises of Taylor Starling, and even her own daughter loves 'Killa Bee', but that won't stop 'Boom Boom' from aiming to put an end to Starling's competitive combat career in BKFC's return to Sturgis. Shelby Cannon will clash with Taylor Starling at BKFC 79: Gogo vs. Lane in a consequential co-main event clash on August 2nd.
Cannon appeared on Bare Knuckle Bowker and when referencing a prior interview done with Paul Pickett where the context was presented of Taylor Starling doing so many interviews for BKFC on the digital content creation end and it seeming like Cannon was intimating that Starling would be done fighting after their BKFC Sturgis contest.
When asked if that was the sentiment that was being expressed there or if some things were being misconstrued at all, Cannon stated,
"No, I think that you're 100% correct. I was meaning that because again, I think she; if I'm making a speculation, which I will, I'll make a speculation. So, let you get in my head a little bit is that I don't think that she had any intentions on fighting anybody else that was going to be higher ranked. I think that because my name came out there, she thought it'd be an easy win and it would get her back on the charts and it would give her another W, which is great."
"Then from there, she was going to be able to fight somebody she's already fought. Being in the game, we know that it's always easier to fight somebody the second time than it is the first time. Britain Hart is a huge contender and I just feel like naturally somebody's going to look for the easiest way to get to the top where I was not. I mean, I'm willing to fight anybody and everybody because I'll tell you, I mean, me and my coach, we talked about Sturgis and we talked about Taylor Starling."
"I mean, I met Taylor Starling in Utah when I did my my debut. I mean, I'm a Taylor Starling fan to be completely honest with you. I mean, I've been watching Taylor Starling for a long, long time. I've seen where she was at when she first came into BKFC and I've seen where she's at right now. I think she had way more intensity and she had way more grit at the beginning of her career. I've seen her do these promotions and, you know, being there with the the mic and interviewing. I mean, that's her bread and butter."
"She's so natural with people. Like she talks about being like a showman and that's great, but like being a showman and being a professional bare knuckle fighter is not the same thing. Yeah, maybe they go hand in hand when you're trying to make money, but I mean at the end of the day, I'm not a showman. I'm a bare knucklefighter. I mean, that's what I go in there and I do is I win fights. I train every single day, every single week. I'm coming here because there's just a lot that needs to be done."
In BKFC, "you're either a dog or you're not" says Cannon
As she continued to give her overview of this BKFC matchup in the context of some of the differences she sees between herself and Starling in the world of bare knuckle, Cannon continued,
"I think that keeping the people in the sport that want to stay in the sport and not have all these other ideas of, I mean I don't know what her ideas are, but I've seen a lot of interviews with her. She wants to open a freaking coffee shop. She wants to do interviews with fighters. I mean she's got all these other plans and like she's got all these plans after she's a fighter. I've had many people ask me when are you going to stop fighting, Shelby?"
"Well, I'm going to fight for as long as I can fight because mentally, emotionally, physically, all these things, it's good for me. Why would I have a date already set on when I'm going to, oh, I'm going to stop fighting when I decide I want to open up a nail salon. Well, no, I've already opened up a nail salon. Thank you very much. Oh, I'm going to stop fighting when I decide that I want to go to church. No, I'm sorry. I already do that. Oh, I'm going to stop fighting when I decide I have all these other plans."
"No, that's just not the way it works [laughs]. It's just not. So, I see her being a really good interviewer and I think she's at the the end of her career. But all props to her, though, I think she's just a great person and I think she's a good role model. My daughter really looks up to Taylor Starling. She loves Taylor Starling. I think she's a beautiful person like inside and out. But at the end of the day though, the women, we're growing. But you're either a dog or you're not."
"You're staying in or you're not. I mean, she can say that I'm talking crap. I don't know. I don't know if that's what this is. But at the end of the day, she's going to have to really fight me a lot differently than she's ever fought anybody else to get her win."
