By Elias Cepeda

UFC strawweight Kailin Curran has made a habit of jumping, head-first, into deep and unfamiliar waters throughout her young MMA career. As a new pro, back in 2013, the Hawaiian moved across the Pacific to train on the U.S. mainland in Southern California at then UFC middleweight contender Mark Munoz’s Reign Training Center.
 
“When I first moved here it was a little hard because I had no family or that many friends,” the fighter recently recounted to The Extra Rounds Podcast.

 “So, it was difficult at first. But I did move out here with my fiancé now and my boyfriend back then so we kind of started that chapter of our lives together, living out here.
 
“It’s kind of different out here, the lifestyle. But I live in a beach town, it’s called San Clemente, and it’s a relaxing town. It’s pretty chill. I’ve gotten used to it and I really like it out here.”
 
Curran took a quick liking to California but before long had to find new places to train at when Munoz closed Reign up in 2015. The fighter made her way to the RVCA private gym in Costa Mesa and then began training under boxing coach Jason Parillo there.
 
Much of the focus has simply been to get more seasoned. Not only did Curran jump into new time zones and gyms to get her pro career going, but she also dove headlong into the UFC pretty quickly.



The top prospect was signed to fight in the big leagues after just three professional fights. As a result, she’s had to get used to fighting much more experienced women than herself.
 
The challenges of consistently fighting more experienced opponents are pretty clear, and Curran has experienced more loss than victory so far in her UFC run. Still, she can’t say she would do things much differently if she got to go back in time if only because living in the past means she wouldn’t be completely focused on the battle in her immediate future.
 
At UFC 214 this Saturday Curran will take on Aleksandra Albu (2-0) near home in Anaheim. Curran likes the fight, in large part because beating an undefeated fighter like Albu is always a crown jewel for fighters, and she says that she’s ready and mentally present to do what she has to.
 
“It’s tough because I got signed [to the UFC] after winning three of my first professional fights. So, I came in getting that contract very confident,” she remembered.
 
“At the time I guess I didn’t know how inexperienced I actually was until I started getting more and more fights and getting more of that fight experience.”
 
In the end, however, fighters shouldn’t lament having to travel rough roads. Those journeys make them who they are, and in Curran’s particular case, she still has a lot of youth, time, and great opportunities ahead of her, starting with Saturday’s mega-card.
 
“Looking back on it, I know it’s tough because every fight that I go into it’s always like I feel it could be my last fight with the UFC just because of the way my record looks. At the same time I’ve had such close fights and really good fights – I put on really good shows,” she concluded.
 
“That’s a whole other [topic]. Right now I’m just focusing on what’s next. I can’t really look back and say, ‘oh, maybe I shouldn’t have [signed with the UFC as early as I did]’ because I’m already here. I’m already in the UFC. I’ve already had four fights. Regardless of the outcomes of those I’m getting another opportunity. So this next fight for me is huge.
 
“But I’m approaching it as I would any other fight. Every fight for me is huge but I know that this is a good opportunity for me to finally pull through and get the win. Especially facing Aleksandra – she’s undefeated. It’s going to look really good for me if I get the win this next fight.”