MMA is a sport that more and more young people are getting into. It seems like every day now, we hear about another fighter who has had this dream since they were five-years old. However, that definitely isn’t the case for Gillian Robertson. In fact, at that age, she didn’t even know MMA was a sport.
“I was 16 and I was just like badgering my dad about I wanted to do cardio kickboxing. I didn’t know MMA existed at all or Jiu-Jitsu or anything. And one of Din [Thomas]’s pro fighters was actually doing community service for the court at my dad’s work at the Humane Society,” Robertson said. “So my dad ended up finding out about Din’s gym through one of his pro fighters who was working for him and then ended up taking me there. It was just kind of the closest gym. I didn’t really… Like I said, I didn’t know what MMA was.”
Once she started, there was definitely no going back. She got involved in the sport and immediately took to it. At that point, there was no turning back.
“I just kind of fell in love with it. I started with cardio kickboxing with like a bunch of soccer moms in the class. Then one of my friends from high school started doing the MMA class, and he was like, ‘why don’t you join me?,” she explained. “I thought, oh, why not? I’ll have a partner to do it with. So I just started doing MMA and I just kind of fell into it more and more. Then I feel like I was just doing so much. They’re like, you got to get a fight. So as soon as I turned 18, I was ready to go.”
The progession from there was insanely quick. Her love for the sport took off and she couldn’t take fights fast enough.
“I took my first amateur fight as soon as I turned 18. And then I had 11 amateur fights in two years,” she said. “I had my first five pro fights the year after that, and then I was signed in the TUF house after that.”
Of course, the parents who were hesitant even to sign her up for cardio kickboxing were not quite as all in as she was. Even now that are a bit unsettled with the idea – although it is better than it was before.
“My parents are the type of people that they were telling me like when I was a kid.
They’re like, if you’re getting kicked on, just walk away. 100% no violence. I don’t really know where that came from in me, honestly,” Robertson said. “I volunteered with animals my whole life before I got into kickboxing. So it was definitely kind of out of left field for them. I think my first couple fights were definitely rough for them. Now they have a little bit more faith in me, so I don’t think they’re as nervous.”
Her parents’ next chance at having big nerves for her will come at UFC Des Moines. She fights Marina Rodriguez as part of the main card on ESPN+. The night of fights gets started at 7pm EST.
You can hear the entire audio of this interview on the latest edition of the Top Turtle MMA Podcast the interview begins at 1:56.
