Gabi Garcia is not the size of an average women. She’s not even the size of bigger than average women. At over six feet tall and over two hundred pounds, Garcia is an intimidating figure.

Garcia is a world jiu-jitsu champion, but has recently transitioned to professional mixed martial arts. Garcia won her first two fights and is set for third fight at Rizin on September 25th.

Garcia recently spoke to MMAJunkie about her MMA career and what kind of message she wants to send to girls and other women that might look up to her:

I am over 6 feet tall – I am big, Garcia told MMAjunkie. I never wore a size small, and that was never a problem for me. I searched, with my work in jiu-jitsu and in fighting, for my space. I’ve been chubby, I’ve been very fat, and I loved myself. I will never weigh 135 pounds – and I’ll not go home to cry because I’ll never weigh 135 pounds. I’m going to apply the 205 pounds that I now need to fight in my favor. I’m never going to weight less than 185 pounds – the doctor told me that I can’t – so I’ll never fight Ronda Rousey. People imagine things that I know aren’t possible. But I need to make my reality possible, which is what I’ve been doing.

I want to show girls that you don’t have to be the same as everyone else to get places. You need to love yourself. People need to be able to look at themselves and say, ‘I like me. I’m proud of me.’

I was a cleaning lady in the U.S. to get to where I am. I take pride in that. So that’s what I want to show girls. I’ve seen too many people suffering because they don’t fit into a society-imposed stereotype. And I’m the opposite of that – the world is here, and Gabi is on the other end. But I love myself, and I think that’s the energy I send to people. We are the energy that we put out to the world, and it comes back to us. I’ve only been getting good things.

source: mmajunkie.com