Jo Calderwood is a Scottish Muay thai champion and a current UFC competitor at strawweight.
She last faced Cynthia Calvillo in a strawweight bout on 16th July. Calderwood lost the fight via a controversial unanimous decision. But in spite of her tough luck in the octagon she recently revealed her biggest struggle was depression.
Calderwood is a blue belt under Firas Zahabi.
Calderwood recently talked to BBC about her struggle and ultimately deciding to give up Alcohol:
“I think every person in life experiences some kind of depression. It’s natural and like – it’s easier for negative thoughts to come in your head than positives. I always try to train in the morning and then train at night. Put on a smile and then go and see forget about me. As a fighter I don’t like to talk about myself. ”
Calderwood added “You’re your own worst enemy. You do push it to the back of your head and that’s the most you can probably do. As soon as I get out here I start to drink and I guess it was part of me trying to escape from things and dealing with things is easier. Same for anyone if you ask them why they drink, it’s not because we enjoy it it’s usually because we want to forget about the present or the past so I gave up in December.”
In an interview that includes hard-hitting footage from the Octagon, the number-eight-ranked strawweight explains how she struggled to deal with her own thoughts, but says she feels in a much better place since giving up alcohol and realizing “it’s OK not to be OK”.
You can watch her entire interview over at BBC
