The 29-year-old calls it “the worst feeling in the world” and that’s as accurate as you can get to describe fearing that a host of health issues were going to keep her from doing what she loved. So while she should have been celebrating and waiting for the next step in her career after she won her UFC debut in November 2018, instead she faced an uncertain future, one that might not include fighting. And if it didn’t include fighting, she was unsure of what she was going to do next.
“I called it my quarter life crisis because I didn’t know what I was gonna do if I couldn’t fight, and literally nothing made me happy,” said Letson. “The thought of me doing anything else didn’t have the same ring to it as being a professional fighter. That’s my passion and what I truly believe what I was meant to do with my life. So I was trying to find any little thing that could make me even a fraction as happy as fighting makes me, but I was not successful. And so that was another reason I was very stressed out and depressed. If I can’t fight again, I don’t know what I’m gonna do because there’s nothing else in this world that makes me as happy as fighting does.”
A lifelong martial artist, Letson did have options. She’s a veteran of the United States Air Force and graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Criminal Justice with a minor in Sociology. So she didn’t need this, but she did.
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And it wasn’t until early this year that she got the light at the end of the tunnel she needed, as her health issues were addressed, putting her a step closer to calling up her manager and telling him she was ready to fight again. But as good as she began feeling in the gym, she needed to hear from the pros that she was clear to resume her career.
“I had been working my way back into training hard and feeling healthy enough that I was gonna potentially fight again back in February,” said Letson. “That’s when I first started training hard again and working my way back into the gym. Then in July, I went out to the (UFC) Performance Institute in Vegas and I got assessed and basically got the green light from them that as long as I did 145 and didn’t have a hard weight cut that they felt it was safe for me to fight again. My doctor felt the same way, and that was an amazing feeling. And instantly, when I got home and went to the gym, there was a little bit more of an intensity in me because I knew I was gonna have a fight eventually, and that was incredible.“
Just like that, Letson had her career – and her life – back. And as she prepares for her return and a chance to add to her UFC win total, Leah “Nidas” found a new gear in the gym that she believes will surprise some people.
