Vanessa Demopoulos – Family knew a trip to train in LA would lead to a permanent move
Growth, loss, change, these are all processes in life you will continually go through. LFA strawweight Vanessa Demopoulos has had a heap of helpings of all three of these processes since her last fight at LFA 52. At LFA 62 the “Lil Monster” will be back in action against Valerie Soto, after having taken a step back from some of her interests to make MMA her top priority. A decision that included moving across the country.
Even though Demopoulos hasn’t competed in MMA in 10 months doesn’t mean she hasn’t been busy.
“Two weeks following the last fight, I had a Fight-2-Win Pro, like back to back, no break,” Demoplous told MyMMANews. “I went right from a three round professional MMA fight to training the very next day. As soon as I got off the plane I started kicking ass. Then I went out there and laid it all on the line for Fight-2-Win. That was in Colorado and then I went to Florida for a while and back to Ohio. I started doing social media marketing. Then I came out her to LA where I’m currently at, for training, and within that time my father passed away. Then I went back to Ohio and kind of just mourned that situation for the month and gave it time and its respect. Then we got things to do. I got the fight offer. I had just started back at the gym again really kicking ass and gearing things back together. I made the decision just to move out here to LA to finish up fight camp for MMA.”
And the “Lil Monster” has taken too Los Angeles as she always thought she would. “Well LA has actually been a goal of mine for like a long time. I mean it’s beautiful out here and I love the sunshine. I live the beach. I live in Florida for a little while and I loved it in Florida. I’ve always wanted to come out to LA and it just seemed like the perfect time in my life. Even before my dad had passed, we’re talking about it. My family was like ‘you’re going to move there right?’ I was like ‘no just going out there to train and I’ll be right back.’ My family was like ‘yeah right, you’re moving.’ They knew it before I knew it.”
It may have been a move across the country, but life hasn’t changed.
“Life in LA is busy and exhausting, which is a good thing,” she said. “I’m in the gym day and night. Between training in the morning over at Black House MMA and doing full camp recovery. I’m spending just as much time training as I am recovering. Then training again in the afternoon and working out here as well. It’s been amazing. I got the schedule down like right away. It didn’t take me more than half of the to adjust, because the life is out here, as it would have been in Ohio. Training all day and then recovering all day as well. Working at night. I feel like when I came out here to LA it was the exact same thing, just in a different environment. A different mindset geared towards MMA, which is why I came here.”
This move also signified a dedication n increased dedication to MMA. “I’ve been able to clear my plate which is been amazing this camp, that’s been something very different from the last one.”
“I’ve set myself up to be able to focus on MMA full time. I’ve been able to set myself up to make this transition out here and completely give all of who I am and all of my energy and effort towards this fight camp.”
Check out the full interview at the top.
