Alexa Grasso is reminding social media followers and fans about the rules she lives by, both for life and for the ring. Flyweight fighter Grasso, 30, shared a picture of herself wearing black leggings and a gray shirt, stretching against a wall at her gym. “Remember that… hard work is a choice. Attitude is a choice. Discipline is a choice. Doing extra is a choice. Excellence is a choice,” she captioned the post. Grasso is not only a competitor but also a coach—here’s how she stays on top of her game and ready to fight.
Grasso works hard to make her fighting style look beautiful and graceful. “Even though we’re fighting, at the end of the day, it’s an art — mixed martial arts — and I like it to look oh so beautiful: nice jabs, nice uppercuts, nice hooks, because I think it’s part of the game,” she told UFC.com. “I like to show that fighting could be nice. My coach is also very meticulous about the technique. He always wants us to show good technique, which is the most important thing, and I like it so much. You can throw truly beautiful combos.”
Grasso now gets help not just for physical training but for mental too. “I have a mental coach who teaches me how to train the mind,” she told the Latin Times. “I imagine every time I’m going to fight, and how it’s going to be. I imagine the place, the people, the noise, the corner, everything! Every time, I’m trying to live that moment before fighting and how I want it to be.”
Grasso says the prospect of fighting Valentina Shevchenko made her train harder than ever. “I know she’s tough. She’s dangerous in all areas and this made me train like tons. I was extreme with my discipline. I was extreme with my training, with my diet, with my conditioning, I was extreme in all areas. Definitely I’m a better athlete right now and I can’t wait to prove that.”
Grasso is proud to be a long-time coach. “I have been a coach for a long, long time. I started with my Uncle and my Dad, Team Grasso Extreme Training so it just throws me back to those days,” she told Fighters Only. “I used to teach kids, women, teenagers, now in my gym, with the experience I have had in the UFC, I have a lot of teammates that are male. So, I know how to motivate them, I have something to share with each one of them and I know how important these fights are for each one of them so I am committed to do something to help them achieve their goals. “
Grasso is passionate about learning and evolving both physically and on an intellectual level. “We must read and inform ourselves a lot,” she writes for UFC.com. “Because nothing is more valuable today than being well-informed. I challenge you to change every 10 minutes you use on social networks every day to read about each organ of your body and thus of varied topics every day. You will be surprised at everything that happens in your body and in the world with every breath. Eating healthy is essential, exercise clears the mind and all these decisions are recorded in our genetic code. Let’s take the best of our lives and leave quality seeds planted in the new generations.”