sa国际传媒官网网页入口

Fighting was never really on Melissa Amaya鈥檚 radar.

Sure, she grew up in Chaparral, New Mexico, with three brothers and tried keeping up with them 鈥� never backing down athletically, adventurously or physically.

But fighting? That wasn鈥檛 really her thing 鈥� at least not physically.

Now, the mixed martial artist 鈥� who earned a nursing degree from UNM in 2018 and is one of 10 female strawweight contenders on the The Ultimate Fighter 34 鈥� is locked in on pursuing a career in a sport she never dreamed of while being open about a past that includes bouts of severe depression and even regular suicidal thoughts.

鈥淚 think I just got kind of tired of being like, 鈥榊eah, I'm good,鈥� every day when I was just lying,鈥� Amaya said of her decision several years ago to be open about her internal battles.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a crazy stigma to it because people think that you have to have some (expletive) life or have some traumatic issue happen if you're sad or depressed. I literally have a perfect healthy body, a good head on my shoulders, I challenge myself, I can sing, I play music like I鈥檓 mentally stimulated. I have good parents, good family, a perfect husband. But I still felt like killing myself. I still thought about it all the time.鈥�

For Amaya, who acknowledges depression hits people in very different ways and can be treated for people in very different ways, her breakthrough was through trying ketamine 鈥� an aggressive six-infusion cycle in about one month鈥檚 time that she says brought about in her head much-needed silence.

鈥淚t just gave my mind a restart from being bombarded from all those signals,鈥� Amaya said. 鈥淔rom the first one, I felt like a pin dropped in my head. It was just silence.鈥�

And focus 鈥� focus on a pursuit in a fight game she never even realized she was all that interested in.

Even a decade ago, when at nursing school at UNM and a friend talked her into taking a kickboxing class at the former Luttrell Yee鈥檚 MMA gym, she fell in love with the class but not the idea of getting in a cage.

鈥淟ittle did I know I was going to be hooked from day one,鈥� she said of that first class, which quickly morphed into signing up for wrestling and MMA classes on top of the kickboxing.

鈥淏ut I never wanted to fight.鈥�

Things change.

The 31-year-old New Mexico native now takes her perfect 8-0 MMA record 鈥� she never fought on the amateur level 鈥� into the TUF34, the UFC-produced reality competition show featuring mixed martial artists living in a house in Las Vegas, Nevada, competing for a six-figure fight contract in the UFC. The show, which has already been recorded, debuts after Sunday鈥檚 UFC White House card and then airs its 12-show season every Tuesday.

Amaya balances being a nurse with full-time fight training out of Spokane, Washington鈥檚 Sikjitsu MMA 鈥� a gym that has produced several UFC fighters and past TUF winners like two-time UFC women's champion Juliana Pe帽a and UFC veteran Michael Chiesa.

And even now, she looks back at those first classes back in sa国际传媒官网网页入口 and is surprised how far she's come in the fight game.

鈥淚 trained my whole life. (I鈥檓 a) super, super obsessed athlete,鈥� said Amaya, who once had hoped to be a walk-on for the Lobo women's basketball team. Unfortunately, UNM didn鈥檛 hold tryouts during her time as a student.

鈥淏asketball was my thing. All I wanted to do was be in the WNBA or be some Olympic athlete. (I) love track and all that.鈥�

Amaya met her husband, Lawrence Sena of Santa Fe, at UNM. He鈥檚 now in the Air Force, leading to a lot of moving around. When she first joined Sikjitsu MMA in Washington, she was asked at the end of her first class to spar with one of the better fighters in the class.

Amaya won rather easily, and her coach didn't need to see much more.

鈥淗e asked if I had ever thought about fighting and I said no,鈥� Amaya recalls. 鈥淗e was like, 鈥榳ell, you should.鈥欌��

The pro journey started there, but still reluctant, Amaya says the drive to reach an elite, UFC-level in the sport didn't really take hold of her until her seventh pro fight.

鈥淚 broke my hand in the first round the fight before (her sixth fight, still a win despite the broken hand),鈥� Amaya said. 鈥淎nd then I re-broke it after recovering, and when I finally got back in there, there was a whole new sense of gratitude about it all 鈥� about being in there doing this at a really high level 鈥� and it sort of started to change my mind about it.鈥�

Now, there鈥檚 no slowing her down. And there鈥檚 no denying her New Mexico roots.

鈥淚 would love to be able to take that home,鈥� Amaya said about her dream of becoming a UFC fighter. 鈥淕rowing up in a small town, you want to be a source of pride for people back home.鈥�

Reach Geoff Grammer at ggrammer@abqjournal.com or follow him on Twitter (X) .