Helen Peralta Having the Time of Her Life During Fight Week

Helen Peralta believes mentality sets her apart from fellow Professional Fighters League Challenger Series contestants.

Peralta (6-3) is only a few days away from one of the biggest fights of her career as she takes on Lisa Mauldin at the upcoming Week 5 of PFL Challenger Series. There’s a contract on the line for the new PFL 125-pound division. While talking with Sherdog, “Iansa” confessed she’s very relaxed during fight week, when most of the fighters seem to let the emotions or the nervousness take the best of them. Peralta also stated that, even though there is much respect between them, she’s more than open to locking horns again with a former opponent Kaytlin Neil in a rematch of their “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 30 quarterfinal clash that ended with a narrow split-decision victory for Neil. Both Peralta and Neil will compete on the same card Feb. 24.

“For me, this is something I love to do. Most of the time, people are nervous and stressed on fight weeks. This is the best week because it's finally here. The thing they've been waiting for is finally here. I know people are concerned sometimes or they're nervous about their opponent. I’m a striker, so I know she’s probably worried like, ‘Oh, I don't want to get knocked out. I don't want to look bad.’ Don't worry about people on the outside. They're not in there with you. If you have a bad day at work, we wouldn't know. When fighters have a bad day at work, the whole world knows. You have to be comfortable with that. You have to know that you might become a meme and you have to be okay with it. Share yourself, increase your followers.”

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro
(00:53) Cutting weight
(01:33) Seeing Mauldin for the first time
(02:26) Commenting on Mauldin
(03:33) Competing in bare-knuckle boxing
(04:24) Leaving the door open for her bare-knuckle boxing return
(04:53) Commenting on Neil
(05:58) Being down to face Neil again
(06:29) Preparing for Mauldin
(07:41) None of her female training partners showed up for her camp
(08:19) Her mentality
(09:04) Enjoying to be in the spotlight
(10:16) Commenting on her protest at the weigh-ins
(10:56) Outro