Bec Rawlings is one of the top fighters in the UFC’s strawweight division.
Outside of fighting, Rawlings is also a mother to two young boys.
It was shortly after the birth of her first child that Rawlings journey into MMA began.
“I wasn’t very active at all,” Rawlings told Yahoo7 Be. “In my late teens, I kind of got into a funk, I was hanging around with the wrong kind of kids and causing trouble. I got into the party scene where I was just getting drunk and then I gained a lot of weight when I was pregnant with my son and lost all motivation.”
After giving birth to her first child, Rawlings decided she wanted to get fit. This lead to her taking her first kickboxing class.
“I rocked up at a cardio kickboxing class and I just fell in love with punching and kicking things,” Rawlings said. “One of the coaches suggested I try out a girls’ MMA class that they had and I just loved it!”
Rawlings passion for MMA turned into a career in 2011 when she began fighting professionally. Rawlings has become one of the top fighters in the world in her weight class, but that achievement has come with huge sacrifice.
“I have to leave (my boys) for six to eight weeks every time I get a fight,” Rawlings said. “I come here (to the US) to train and get ready for fights so that’s a huge sacrifice.
“It’s also setting a good role model for my kids to go out there and follow your dreams and do what makes you happy.”
Rawlings is scheduled to fight strawweight contender Tecia Torres on Saturday, Feb. 4 in Houston, Texas.
