So Sarah D’Alelio, how did you spend your summer?
Suffice to say that if the Strikeforce featherweight newcomer was going to write a back to school essay chronicling her summer, it would be a doozy to top all the usual camp and Disney stories. For this one was not only filled with the usual fight game twists and turns, but it also had a couple of 80mph inversions thrown in for good measure.
Yet when D’Alelio lost a huge, high-profile bout with Gina Carano in June when the reigning superstar of women’s MMA wasn’t medically cleared to compete, then received a prelim bout with unbeaten phenom Ronda Rousey that was then moved to the main card of this Friday’s Challengers show in Las Vegas, she kept cool and went about her business. And the Maine native’s business is fighting, so she hit the gym.
“It was disappointing,” said D’Alelio of the Carano fight being scrapped. “But my coach was like ‘you gotta just be ready. They’re gonna throw another fight at you.’ So I kept going into the gym and training, and it wasn’t very long before I got Ronda.”
And while some fighters would be crushed by losing the mainstream attention that the Carano bout would have brought, D’Alelio chuckles at such a notion.
“If my main goal was just to fight Gina, then I probably shouldn’t be in this sport,” she said. “I was just happy to have a fight. It doesn’t really matter to me who it is, it’s just the fact that I have a fight. I’m a fighter, and I like fighting.”
One of 11 children, it may be safe to say that if she wanted to be seen or heard while growing up, she had to learn how to fight. She doesn’t disagree.
“We were always playing tag games and wrestling around and climbing trees,” said D’Alelio. “There was a lot of scrapping going on.”
At 14, D’Alelio and her family relocated out west to Washington, and from there, it was the usual process: School, work, and more work. From waitressing to being a delivery driver and nanny, D’Alelio was carving out her own niche in the world, not completely sure what she was going to do with her life eventually, but certain that it wouldn’t be in an office.
“I cannot sit behind a desk and be one of those people,” she said. “You see videos all the time of people freaking out in the office; that would have been me. (Laughs)”
By 2007 though, the proverbial heavens opened and she found mixed martial arts.
“I saw my first MMA fight on Versus, and I was like ‘whoa, I wonder if girls do this.’”
That was all it took. Surprisingly, after some early misgivings, her family jumped on board in support, even admitting that it was little surprise that this sport is where she found her calling.
“I think they were mostly nervous about me getting hurt at first, but then seeing me do well made them go ‘all right, way to go,’” she said. “Everybody’s real supportive now. I know my mom and dad still get nervous every time, but my mom’s at almost every single fight. My entire family is just super proud, and they love it, and they throw parties whenever I fight. I get a lot of support from my family and friends and they say it makes sense that I would do this.”
In February of 2010, D’Alelio turned pro with a 29 second submission win over Sarah Oriza. She stayed busy that year, moving to 4-0 before a decision loss to Julie Kedzie last December.
A relocation to the sunny climes of Dublin, California followed, and then came Christmas a few months after December when she got a fight with Carano, the “face” of women’s MMA.
“It was like I had won the lottery,” she said. Yet when it came time to cash her ticket in, she didn’t have to right numbers after all. It was unfortunate on a number of levels, but besides losing out on the chance to compete against one of the big names in the sport, the 30-year old D’Alelio also lost out on the opportunity to tell her story to the world and compete on the big stage.
When we first spoke before the Carano bout was called off, D’Alelio spoke of getting prepared for the onslaught of media that was going to meet her on fight week, and she had come to accept it thanks to a pep talk from her training partner and Carano’s first Strikeforce opponent, Elaina Maxwell.
“We talk outside of training, and she said ‘just find that place where you’re comfortable with these things and embrace it,’” recalled D’Alelio. “Before this, I was very camera shy and shy interview wise, but you talk with the right people and they tell you, ‘put your brain in a different place and think about things from a different angle. This is fun, this is good. There’s nothing wrong with this. So enjoy it.’ And when I lightened up and started feeling that way, it became less of a pressure, and more of, okay, this is part of my job, I do it and I’m happy about it. A lot of girls don’t get to do this, so why not smile and embrace it.”
She is, even if she has a different dance partner in former Olympic judo medalist Rousey. In fact, considering that D’Alelio has finished three of her four wins by submission, she may have an even better stylistic matchup with Rousey than she would have had with the striker, Carano.
“It is,” she smiles. “She (Rousey) is gonna want to go to the ground. But I’ll fight her wherever she wants to fight. At this point, I’m super confident in my standup and it’s better than it’s ever been, and I’ve been rolling with some really, really good guys. It’s amazing that I’ve been able to learn this fast, and coach Kirian (Fitzgibbons) just knows how to get through to people in the simplest, most basic way, but it changes everything for you,” she said. “I have so much confidence in him as a coach because everything he teaches is right. And Lana (Stefanac), my jiu-jitsu coach, is a world champion grappler. So the work in progress is working out. I’ve got a big smile on my face right now.”
You can hear it in her voice. She was ready for Carano and now she’s ready for Rousey. D’Alelio may not have the hype machine behind her…yet, but she’s well aware that if you keep winning and keep getting better, your time will come. And to be honest, it really doesn’t matter to her who’s watching. As long as she’s fighting, she’s fine. Just refer to her tweet on May 22nd:
“I don’t need a f@$#ing pep talk to motivate me to do the only thing that makes me feel alive.”
She elaborates.
“After a really hard grappling or sparring session, you come out of that and you just feel like you survived somebody trying to choke you out, break your arm, punch you in the face, or knock you out, and you’re still here. Everything else fades into the background once you’ve had those experiences. It’s like ‘this is where I feel the most alive.’”
For Sarah D’Alelio, Friday can’t come soon enough.
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