{"id":218337,"date":"2025-10-16T22:31:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T22:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/218337\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T22:31:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T22:31:10","slug":"melissa-scare-crodens-leap-of-faith-into-mma-pays-off-with-ufc-debut-in-vancouver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/218337\/","title":{"rendered":"Melissa (Scare) Croden\u2019s leap of faith into MMA pays off with UFC debut in Vancouver"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The UFC logo on a fighter’s glove at UFC 315 in Montreal on Saturday, May 10, 2025.Graham Hughes\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

In 2015, Melissa Croden took a leave of absence from her job as a paramedic to spend three months in Thailand. She wanted to know whether mixed martial arts was really for her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to test myself and see if I could handle the demands of this sport \u2026 I went there and trained my butt off and just fell in love with the sport,\u201d she recalled. \u201cI was like, \u2019This is what I want to do\u2019 and ever since that moment, I\u2019ve been pursuing it pretty hard and have put my (whole) being into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

A decade later, that leap of faith has led Croden to Vancouver\u2019s Rogers Arena.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the 34-year-old bantamweight from Calgary will make her UFC debut, facing Brazil\u2019s Tainara (Thai Panther) Lisboa in the opening bout of the UFC Fight Night card.<\/p>\n

Croden had yet to have an amateur bout when she arrived in Thailand, where she trained at Tiger Muay Thai under former UFC fighter Roger Huerta and the coaching duo of brothers Frank and George Hickman. <\/p>\n

Her full-time job was waiting for her when she got back to Alberta, but she decided to cut back on her hours to focus on training and fighting.<\/p>\n

Nothing has changed. She trains full time.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then I hop on the ambulance, to be able to pay my rent,\u201d Croden explained.<\/p>\n

She made her amateur debut in September 2016, stopping Liz Jackson in the third round. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an exhilarating experience,\u201d she recalled. \u201cI remember after that fight was done \u2014 it was stopped by the ref because I think I broke her nose pretty bad \u2014 I remember thinking all at the same time, \u2018I never want to do this again\u2019 and also, \u2019Let\u2019s do this again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Croden (6-2-0) had her first pro fight three years later and today has won two straight and four of her last five. The lone blemish during that run was a five-round decision loss to Portugal\u2019s Jacqueline (The Nightmare) Cavalcanti for the Legacy Fighting Alliance (LFA) bantamweight title in April 2023.<\/p>\n

Cavalcanti has since moved to the UFC and is now ranked 11th among 135-pound contenders after four straight wins in the promotion.<\/p>\n

Croden, meanwhile, waited her turn.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew, in the meantime, I needed to get back in the win column,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Croden did just that, dispatching Katharina (The German Gypsy) Lehner at LFA 169 in October 2023 and Ashley Deen at LFA 195 in October 2024.<\/p>\n

Croden kept training after the Deen win, in case the UFC called with a short-notice fight. She got the call a little over two months ago, with a spot on the Vancouver card on offer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a pretty surreal experience. I haven\u2019t cried like that in a very long time,\u201d she said with a laugh. \u201cSo it was very very emotional, in a positive sense. I\u2019m still kind of at a loss for words. I\u2019ve just always believed that I belong here and now I\u2019ve just [been] reinforced in my belief in myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Croden has finished all her wins (five by KO and one by submission) and has yet to be stopped as a pro, with both losses via decision.<\/p>\n

At 5-foot-10, Croden will have a three-inch height advantage as well as an edge in reach over the 34-year-old Lisboa.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know she is a two-time Muay Thai world champion, so I wager it\u2019s going to stay mostly on the feet. There\u2019s potential for it to be a bit of a sprawl-and-brawl-type fight \u2026 And if that happens, I\u2019m prepared.\u201d<\/p>\n

She expects the Brazilian to throw bombs. \u201cI think that my footwork is what\u2019s going to make me stand out in this fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Croden can look forward to plenty of support in the crowd.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s tons of people coming out,\u201d said Croden. \u201cShe\u2019s going to be walking out into the lion\u2019s den.\u201d<\/p>\n

Croden wasn\u2019t interested in team sports growing up but got involved in martial arts after a childhood friend started taking taekwondo. Croden tried it at 11 or 12, liked it and two or three years later added kickboxing.<\/p>\n

After stepping away from the sport as a teenager, she found martial arts again as an adult. A friend was getting ready for a kickboxing fight and Croden ended up taking a class at her gym in 2012 or 2013.<\/p>\n

These days she trains in Calgary at Alavanca, Rocky Mountain Brazilian jiu-jitsu and Dunamis. But for this fight camp, she spent time in Las Vegas with stints at Xtreme Couture and the UFC Performance Institute.<\/p>\n

In the past, she has also trained at Jackson-Wink in Albuquerque, N.M., and Pound 4 Pound Muay Thai in Littleton Colo., where she helped fellow fighter Hailey (All Hail) Cowan train for a fight.<\/p>\n

Cowan, her main training partner, will be in her corner Saturday. Croden cornered Cowan at UFC 314 in April in Miami.<\/p>\n

Her nickname is Scare, which goes well with Croden. But it came for another reason.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019m pretty naturally athletic but my movement when I first started learning how to strike was very stiff and not very fluid,\u201d she said. \u201cSo my old coach would say I\u2019m moving like a scarecrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve fixed that since,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The UFC logo on a fighter’s glove at UFC 315 in Montreal on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,641,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,638,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,82,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-218337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-fighting","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-mma","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}