UFC commentator Laura Sanko has opened up about her short-lived fight career.
The 42-year-old went 6-1 in amateur MMA before turning professional with Invicta FC in 2013.
Laura Sanko locked up a rear-naked choke submission to beat Cassie Robb inside two rounds.
After that, the fan favorite never fought again, despite backing herself to have a ‘solid run’ if the UFC created an atomweight division.
Laura Sanko explains 1-0 MMA career
12 years after her pro-MMA debut, Sanko is widely regarded as one of the best broadcasters in MMA.
The former fighter, who went by the nickname ‘Fancy’, is the only woman who currently commentates on UFC fights – but there’s widespread curiosity about what would’ve happened if she had fully committed to competing.
During a conversation with Sean Strickland’s recently axed coach, Eric Nicksick, Sanko discussed the thought process behind her one-fight career.
“It’s always a problem to a degree,” she said when asked if a lack of viable opponents prompted her retirement. “But by that point for, you know, once I was fighting for Invicta, like, they were gonna do all the work, and they had a handful of good atomweights.”
“Really that was the top of the mountain. If you’re an atomweight, this is it. You were there, so that was the vibe, I’m here. I’m gonna make the most of this.
“It’s not like I thought I was gonna be some superstar. I knew what it was, but I loved it. It was never about making money or being known because that wasn’t even a possibility back then when I was fighting.”
Laura Sanko recalls first Charles Oliveira meeting
Over a decade ago, Sanko trained with Plinio Cruz, who has helped Alex Pereira become a pound-for-pound UFC superstar.
As Sanko reminisced on her time working with Cruz, she told an amazing story about the first-ever time she saw Charles Oliveira in the training room.
“Funny story,” Sanko began.
“I remember he was teaching at a gym in the city, but he was part of Macaco’s Gold Team system in New Jersey where all the Brazilians lived so every once in a while, he’d be like ‘Hey, we’re going to take a group and we’re going to go train at Macaco’s this weekend, so come take a train with us and go out there’.
“And I remember one time, we went out there and he was like ‘Do you see that kid in the corner there? That kid, that kid is going to be champion one day’… I look over, and there’s this skinny, dorky, coke-bottle glasses kid sitting there and I’m like ‘Okay, sure, looks like it’.”