Colombian blended martial artists Alejandra Lara earned her nickname “Azul” in her youth, due to her love of the colour blue. Fortuitously, nonetheless, blue doesn’t symbolize her way of thinking. Regardless of dwelling with ADHD and having not too long ago recovered from reconstructing again surgical procedure, Lara is returning to MMA for a primary occasion with the Combate World promotion, and she or he might be in her finest psychological and bodily situation but.
Muscle & Health sat down with the buff magnificence to learn how life’s challenges, together with a string of losses contained in the cage, has lastly put her in a spot the place she will understand the true potential she needs to be one in all MMA’s most intense forces of nature.
“I’ve had many lives,” explains Lara, who, earlier than MMA, was in musical theatre, private coaching, studied to be a instructor, and even picked up a ardour for aerial silks and pole dancing coaching. Lara grew up with ADHA, (Consideration-Deficit / Hyperactivity Dysfunction), a situation that makes it very tough for folks to deal with issues for lengthy durations of time. “It’s true, I am still this girl,” she shares. “I consider that, now, a superpower.”
As a self-professed “hyperactive” baby, Lara gravitated in the direction of expressing herself bodily. Singing and dancing proved to be a terrific outlet for her extra vitality, however the tough and tumble of college, the place she usually felt like an outsider, gave her the information that quite being scared to combat, she truly relished these violent moments of being punched, and putting again. Lara explains that as a young person, she was as soon as concerned in a enjoyable ‘fight club’ model brawl that bought out of hand. “I just realized that I loved that,” she shares. “Even when I got punched, I felt some pain eating (for a couple of days), but man, I felt that was so fun and I realized that I liked it.”
Alejandra Lara Feels that ADHD has Tremendous Cool Advantages
The MMA star explains that, for her, a few of the advantages of ADHD are “super cool,” explaining that her hyperactivity offers her vitality. “It makes me the fighter I am”, she explains. And, regardless of discovering it arduous to be affected person, Lara has discovered that she’s extremely fast learner. Initially enrolling in karate at simply 4 years previous, Lara went away and got here again on the age of 8 and later turned profitable in nationwide tournaments, the place she was usually required to combat males because of a scarcity of girls. “I have an energy that is very explosive,” she shares. “[In martial arts] I can express myself with the full intensity of my soul. I always feel so free [when] training, boxing, and wrestling, grappling, I always feel so alive. I love this, this is my dream life.”
Lara continued to review many martial arts disciplines, together with kung-fu, and jiu jitsu, and was invited to turn out to be a menace on the earth of MMA. “It seemed like a natural transition,” she says. As a rookie, she received that first MMA match in 2011, and amassed six wins in opposition to only one loss, together with a victory for the Received CFN Flyweight championship. Excitingly, she then signed to Bellator in 2017, and was profitable in her first outing, even being thought of as a prime 5 contender, however was maybe pushed too far, too quickly, together with her second bout; an unsuccessful Bellator Girls’s Flyweight World Championship problem in opposition to Llima-Lei Macfarlane, who was at the moment nonetheless undefeated.
Regardless of dropping one other outing in opposition to Juliana Velasquez, Lara bounced again and amassed two victories thereafter however, alas, her remaining 4 outings with Bellator dealt her some merciless losses. Two of these losses had been significantly arduous for her to abdomen as a result of DeAnna Bennett and Diana Avsaragova had missed weight, coming in heavier than they need to, that means that Lara was compelled to combat at catchweight in opposition to opponents a lot heavier than herself.
It’s a topic that Lara hasn’t needed to speak about with the media an excessive amount of, by worry of being labelled a complainer, however in a frank chat with M&F, and together with her epic return simply days away, the fighter is now capable of share her emotions. “Even when ‘this’ girl didn’t make weight, I never talk about excuses, or ‘I lost because of this.’ Not even taking my back issues to the table, but now I am realizing that it’s a story that can help other people, too. I don’t consider (these challenges) as unlucky, but of course, I had to learn, in a bad way, a lot of things,” she says.
A kind of issues was the necessity for a method going ahead. Lara has realized to know that she is an improvisor, and though this has labored effectively for her many instances, extra is required of her at this stage of competitors. She must put agency plans in place.
Alejandra Lara is studying to plan her victory as an epic MMA return looms
“I always came to the cage just to fight, not to win, and that’s (why) I had to face how my mind works,” says the fighter. Alongside her ADHD superpower, Lara is lastly studying to plan. “We all know I’m tough, but that’s not the point. I need to win too … That’s the difference now.”
Fortuitously, when the fighter stepped away from MMA competitors in February 2023, she was additionally capable of lastly handle a severe again problem that required regenerative surgical procedure. The 29-year-old says that whereas she has experimented with all types of diets and has been vegetarian, she felt that animal protein was wanted to assist her heal totally, and is now feeling higher than ever forward of her conflict with nine-time kickboxing champion Gisela “LA Emperatriz” Luna (who’s a late substitute for the injured Lucero Acosta). Whereas ‘Azul’ received’t be giving freely her newfound methods earlier than the match, she is worked up in regards to the prospect of the combat forward.
“I feel very confident,” she says. “I have to deal with that loss of confidence that comes with losing so much [laughs]. I mean, I had to learn, and also to understand that I am a good fighter, you know?” Alejandra Lara has the potential to be greater than only a good fighter, however whatever the end in her return matchup in Miami, “Azul” will at all times be a really inspirational human being.
Tune in: Combate World MMA: Azul vs. Luna airs dwell Might 11, 2024, at 9:30pm on Fuse. For more information go to: https://combateglobal.com