“The smoke has just finally cleared, and I’ve been able to just finally focus on my training, and my life, and things just seem to be going much smoother,” said Lee, who is 5-3 inside the Octagon and 13-5 overall heading into this weekend’s clash with Araujo. “My boyfriend plays a big key in all of that. He’s been helping me, he’s been teaching me a lot of the things that he’s really good at — his tricky style, the way he sets things up have been rubbing off on me — also, I’ve gotten back to work with one of my former trainers, Grandmaster Carroll Baker.
“I’ve finally been able to put together everything at home, so I don’t have to travel out of town, and I really think that has benefitted me mentally.”
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Not having to spend much time away from her 10-year-old daughter Ainslee has been a major positive development for Lee, who acknowledges that showing her daughter that tough times don’t have to derail your dreams was a key driving force in helping her navigate her way through those difficult years.
“Not today, but someday when she gets older, I think that she’ll be able to understand and maybe it will give her motivation in her own future,” Lee said of her daughter. “Sometimes you just have to push through and make lemonade, you know?
“Everybody faces struggles, and it depends on how you decide to deal with it. You’re either going to break or you’re going to grow from it, and I just choose to never break. And I don’t want her to ever break from anything, either.”
