Hi Friends, Fans, and even Foes!
If you are reading this to know a little bit about me, I want to assure you this is truly Miranda and what I want you to know about me, not a cookie cutter biography. First, yes I am of course an athlete and I will tell you the brief version of how and why, but you’ll have to wait for my book to be released one day before the full version is out!
I was never that kid that grew up dreaming of becoming a professional athlete; rather, I was the nerdy kid doing well in academics who was looking to have a good job (specifically as a psychologist of some type) and start my own business some day. I always had a competitive mindset and was an athlete from youth, competing from a young age in gymnastics, armwrestling, basketball, track, … you name it!
However, I eventually lost interest, because although I was good at most sports, I was never the best and if it wasn’t going to help me in life, such as paying for college, I didn’t want my family spending money on sports for my contentment. I already had plenty to be grateful for and many ways to fill my time. One of those ways was wrestling around with my family at home learning moves after a night of watching and studying UFC fights. My dad was always protective and tried to teach my siblings and me how to defend ourselves, primarily through Brazilian Jiu-jitsu (BJJ), which we learned initially from technique videos on Youtube, watching fights on TV, and trial and error as we rolled with each other.
Once I was old enough to drive myself to school, I started training some days at an actual gym so that I could learn even more about BJJ, and within a couple weeks, I realized I had found my calling. The passion I had for the sport enveloped my thoughts and dreams and by the time I started college closer to the gym I trained at, I decided I wanted to try to fight MMA. I told myself that I would take one fight- if I lost or I didn’t like the feeling it gave me, I would never do it again, but if I won and I liked the feeling, I would pursue the avenue of being the best martial artist I could be. After all, when I was 15 years old watching the first women’s fight in the UFC (Rousey vs. Carmouche), my dad told me “You can do that if you want. You could be world champion. You were raised for it.” And as God’s will had it, I signed with the UFC in June 2020, but I have been a professional mixed martial artist since June of 2016.
Other fun facts:
- I was born and raised in country settings, which is now the Maverick Ranch in Missouri.
- I have been dubbed “farm-strong” and I take great pride in how I was raised to become so strong mentally, spiritually, and physically.
- I moved around to many different states as a child (my dad was a property developer for rural land) and have been to 9 different schools.
- I home-schooled my two younger siblings until they reached high school and I simultaneously moved to Virginia for graduate school.
- I have had a part time job and maintained high marks as a full time student throughout my entire martial arts career from amateur to the UFC.
- My biggest inspiration and the greatest mental coach on this planet is my father- Cordell Maverick.
- I have had two instances due to health concerns that have almost made me leave the sport of MMA.
My biggest takeaway from life so far:
If you are going to do something, do it willingly and wantingly, with passion and purpose to glorify not only yourself and those you represent, but to glorify God first and foremost. Find the potential of your talents, “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity or fear, but of power and love and discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7). I try my best to live a moral life and push myself to every limit, for I fear nothing except wasting the opportunities I’ve prayed to be put in front of me.