Evolve Women's MMA Podcast · Shelley Devine

Evolve WMMA Show #75 With Fernanda Araujo

October 24, 2023·55 min·5 clips

Fernanda Araujo competed against boys from age three, proving girls can excel in martial arts early on.

Boston is right in the room. The host opens with Evolve Boot Camp, Boston Common, and Invicta FC 54 coming to her hometown, then eases into fight talk that feels local without trying too hard. Fernanda gets time to answer. The conversation sits with a hard truth: a fighter can prepare well and still have the result go the other way. The host treats winning and losing as something that needs a bigger mindset, closer to a lifelong practice than one clean outcome to chase. Fernanda agrees. The coin image works because it is plain: once it is in the air, nobody knows which side will land. Training history turns into personal history. The host follows Fernanda through people and gyms, including Jimmy Pedro's, Kayla Harrison, and Kylie O'Hearn, with the curiosity of someone who knows these worlds overlap. When the question becomes what it feels like to fight someone she trained with, Fernanda does not make it dramatic. She has been there. Judo already meant competing against best friends and training partners, so the cage was not a new emotional problem. Business is business in that moment. Her answer is simple and firm: once you step onto the mat or into the cage, the job comes first. The host still leaves room for the human part, the handshakes afterward, and the fact that competition does not have to wipe out the relationship. It sounds like Evolve WMMA on its own terms: fight talk with real interest in pressure, friendship, preparation, and uncertainty.

As heard by us

A warm Boston MMA conversation about judo, training partners, and the fight mindset.

The episode centers on Fernanda Araujo's path through Boston and the arrival of Invicta FC 54, with Shelley Devon shaping the conversation around women who keep pushing forward in mixed martial arts.

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Why you'd press play

You want a Boston fight-scene conversation that moves from judo rooms to cage mindset fast.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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