“You see these people that you followed for so long and you’re like, ‘Man, I want to be like them,’” said Alpar. “You think of them as these famous people. Now I’m really awkward as it is, and I was super awkward. (Laughs) But hopefully the more I go out there the more I can just chill out and be myself and hopefully we can be able to make it a thing because I know she can make me a better fighter for sure.”
Hearing her talk about training with Holm and the Jackson / Wink squad, it’s clear that Alpar is not jaded by her ascension to the UFC. She’s still a fan, and she hopes that will never change.
“I think that’s super important,” Alpar said. “Fighting is just as much or even more mental than it is physical. And when you start going to practice and thinking it’s a job or ‘oh, when is this gonna be over,’ when you fall out of that love for it, what are you doing here? You need to love the sport and need to have that heart for it to keep you going.”
Alpar’s enthusiasm is infectious, not just for the sport, but for life in general, and anyone can pick that up from talking to her, seeing her interviews, or even reading her UFC bio, where she writes of a purpose greater than just winning fights.
“It’s a chance for the world to hear my story and let me be a real role model for those who need one,” Alpar wrote when asked what it means for her to fight in the UFC. “All the blood, sweat, and tears will finally mean something. Being in the UFC gives me the purpose I have been searching for.”
I asked her about the answer to that question, wondering where that attitude of putting others before herself comes from.
“It definitely comes from my childhood,” she said. “Growing up for a long time, especially the middle school years when I was getting bullied, when I was feeling uncomfortable with myself and very out of place, I didn’t really have anyone to go to or turn to. I didn’t have anyone who understood. I wish I had someone to look up to, to keep me going. I didn’t have that. I had wrestling and I had myself and I said, ‘All right, I’m gonna keep going,’ but I feel like if I had somebody who understood my experience, I would feel more at ease, more okay. So if I can be that for somebody that I didn’t have, I’d be pretty fulfilled. To be an influence for somebody else, that’s more important, and lifelong, than just the career of being in the UFC. I’m not Sarah, UFC fighter; I’m Sarah and I’ll be Sarah for my whole life.”
