By Samantha Roberts, FightTicker.com youth contributor

I recently had a chance to interview Belinda Dunne, who is a pioneer in MMA as far as females are concerned. After speaking with a few fighters I get the impression that Dunne treats her fighters a lot more fairly than Dana White does.

She is a promoter who runs the Princesses of Pain organization in New Zealand, and she is really getting some big names on her card. They may lack the superstar name but they have the talent that the true MMA fans recognize.

Every fight she puts together seems to be a tough one and one could argue that the card is stacked against the Australasia team. I for one am excited for a promoter that is for putting on the best possible fights.

Here are the highlights of the interview, which was conducted by e-mail during the past week.

FightTicker.com: Combat sports are labeled "men’s" sports. Having a women head up a MMA organization is unheard of. What made you decide to tackle such an adventure with women athletes?

Belinda Dunne: I decided to take on creating a women's league because the women of this sport are training just as hard as the guys and in some cases their skills are as good or better.

The fact there were no opportunities available for them to fight (not when I started anyway) annoyed me and motivated me to stop complaining about it and as Nike would say, "Just do it." My slogan from the start has always been, "Failure is not an option." Recently it has become "Failure is not an option (never was)."

The fighters wanted this league to go ahead so badly they have bent over backwards to help make it happen. That is still the case today; the girls and the guys are the driving force behind Princesses of Pain successes. It might have started off a guy's sport but the men have really shown they want to help the girls and the girls have fought like crazy to make it happen.

FightTicker.com: If the USA team were to win all the fights -- I'm not saying they will, but just for arguments sake -- do you think it would hurt your organization?

Belinda Dunne: If Team USA wins all the fights it won’t hurt us at all. Princesses of Pain is not about the areas -- it is about building the fight skill of women and stepping up with each event until we have the best fighters in the world competing here. I don’t care where they come from. If that happens it would show the girls in this area need to train harder and I know they would.

Obviously as far as the TV program I would prefer a very close competition with the final result falling on the champions matches at the end. That, however, is just to create intensity with the TV audience and the bigger picture is the league being known to be unbiased and a true neutral territory for women fighters.

20/20 NZ are doing an article on us here and we would like it to play there also. So watch out for that.

FightTicker.com: If you had your choice of one female fighter to headline (mine would be Tara La Rosa) who would it be?

Belinda Dunne: Fiona Muxlow, Cindy Hale or Lana Stephnac. These women have been chosen because they not only have great fight skills but are awesome representatives and they GET what the league is about. I don’t need superstars -- I’m building my own (having said that Lana is a superstar already.) These women are fighters I will be very proud to put my company logo on -- any other event or sponsor should feel the same. I am really living my dream -- they were hand pick[ed] to help me make it happen.

FightTicker.com: Do you think there should be an age limit/restriction on kids training in MMA? If so, explain.

Belinda Dunne: No, not for training. We have a gym close by who uses training as a way to keep young kids on track at school; they get good grades and they are allowed to train, if not then they can't. It is working and keeping kids off the street; it’s a great idea and I fully support it.

However there is an age restriction at Princesses of Pain -- you have to be 20 years old. Partly because the intensity and serious nature/level of these events and partly because alcohol is served and I don’t want children there unless they have a parent with them at all times, and are not competing.

So go ahead [and] train -- I love hearing about young kids doing that. But competition should be age-restricted e.g. maybe no punches to the head until you are 18....something like that.

FightTicker.com: Do you think it's ok intermixing boys and girl. I wrestled this year. Although I placed 5th in a state tournament, I never faced a girl all year.

Belinda Dunne: I think intermixing is fine and I know it challenges and strengthens the skills of the women who train with males so in that sense they help us a lot.

Competing against men I am not comfortable with but nor would I ever think it was terrible.

FightTicker.com: What form of martial arts is the best?

Belinda Dunne: They all have strong points and weakness and it depends what you would like to use it for. Fitness, calming the mind, MMA -- it goes on and on but there isn’t one style I would say is the best. They all do different things for different people.

FightTicker.com: What are the reactions of people who find out you are starting a female MMA league? There are two issues -- one is the stigma associated with MMA and the other is the stigma of being a female fighter.

Belinda Dunne: Mostly they say, "ABOUT TIME SOMEONE BLOODY DID", but I don’t want to hear that language from you, young lady. LOL.

Stigmas with female fighting still exist but there are some amazing women fighters who are breaking those stigmas really fast and that makes me proud to be a part of the coming out period we are in right now.

When people tell me women can't fight I usually don’t argue with them. I am a busy person and I have better things to do. I do, however, invite them to watch a show. The girls are amazing and usually their skill alone will win people over more than my words ever would.