MELBOURNE, Australia – You never know what a person is struggling with on the inside.
And little did anyone know, as Megan Anderson blitzed her way out of the gates in her mixed martial arts career en route to the Invicta featherweight title, that she was coping with issues of her own.
“I’m very hard on myself,” Anderson told MMA Junkie at Friday’s UFC 243 media day. “I’ve always been open about that and about mental health issues and that kind of stuff. So I am my own worst critic and have kind of doubted my skills for a long time.”
But then Anderson came up short twice in her first three UFC contests, dropping fights to Holly Holm and Felicia Spencer. And the affable Aussie had to be real with herself about something: Spencer had used angst over deep-rooted childhood issues to get to a certain point in her career, but to get to the next level, she had to learn to deal with them.
“I feel like I had a lot of issues from my childhood that I’ve never dealt with, and I’ve always been open about being bullied, and I’ve had some – a lot with my home life,” Anderson said. “My dad was an alcoholic. I think it’s been like six years now, so I’m so proud of him he’s been sober, and that’s amazing.”
“But I’ve had a lot of demons from my childhood growing up that I never have dealt with, and I kind of used that to fuel me throughout my early MMA career,” Anderson continued. “But I kind of got to a point where I’m kind of at peace with – I never had dealt those issues, and it kind of made everything go to (expletive) for lack of a better word.”
By working on herself, Anderson (9-4 MMA, 1-2 UFC), who meets Zarah Fairn Dos Santos (6-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) on at UFC 243, says she’s finally gotten to a place where she’s at peace and she’s finally ready to live up to the high expectations that came with her UFC stint.
“I’ve kind of come at peace with that now and I realize that I can’t control what I can’t control and I just need to do me and be myself and happy.”
UFC 243 takes place Saturday (Sunday locally) at Marvel Stadium.The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.
For more from Anderson, check out the video above.
