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Bear Fiorda

Bear what has shaped the person you are today?

The death of my father and the strength of my mother.

I believe loosing my dad at such a young age and then

seeing my mom work so hard to provide us a good life

really shaped me. I lost someone I loved so much before I

even really understood what it meant and then I saw the

other person I love struggle and work twice as hard as

everyone else to to keep us afloat and she still managed

to make birthdays and Christmas special. God, she tried

so hard not to let me see her struggle. My mother taught

me what love and kindness were and I want so much to be

like her.

Share with us a pivotal moment in your life where you

had to confront your own vulnerability. How did you

emerge from that experience?

Stepping into the cage for the first time before I

had taken any actual cage fight lessons. That was

so stupid (laughing) the nerves and anxiety were

overwhelming and the knowledge that once that gate

locks closed, no one but me is there to protect me from

the other person. It’s like taking a huge test when you

haven’t studied for. You have to figure it out and you are

your only life line! That said I lost in 47 seconds, so I

wasn’t the best life line!

As someone who inspires others, what’s a fear or

insecurity you still grapple with privately?

I still fear every day that I’m not good enough. That no

matter what I do or accomplish that I’m not successful

or that I’m letting everyone around me down. I do my

best to encourage everyone to be proud of themselves

and what they have done with their lives because I want

everyone to feel confident in who they are. I try to help

everyone feel that they are enough so that hopefully one

day I feel the same way about myself.

Reflecting on your journey, what’s a decision you’ve made

that you initially regretted but ultimately led to significant

growth?

Opening up my non profit. First I remember thinking

“what am I doing I’m too young, I’ve never owned a

business before and i don’t know the first thing about it.”

then when no one came I felt that it was all doomed to

fail because I didn’t know the first thing about how to

promote a business.

On top of that any company we reached out to for

donations hadn’t heard of us so they didn’t know if

we were credible which made getting support very

difficult and after a while it became very demoralizing.

However with my mom‘s support and after working our

asses off businesses slowly started to come around, and

the community has been amazing, we’ve even had big

names in the martial arts world start leaning in to us! It

helps that we we offer our services for free so we are not

competition for the local dojos.

Can you recount a time when you felt utterly alone,

despite being surrounded by people? How did you cope

with that feeling of isolation?

All the time. The feeling of loneliness hits me hardest

during my fights. There is so much anxiety and fear from

being surrounded by the crowd that I wouldn’t do much

in the matches and that led to a few really embarrassing

losses, quite a few really embarrassing losses! I started

feeling like there was no hope, that I was somehow broken

and that sense of loneliness continued to grow. I couldn’t

understand why I did so well in training and then froze

every time I get in front of a crowd.

Then after one particularly bad loss I met my now my

head coach Joe Stevenson who works with me every day

on my skills, but more importantly on my confidence

and crafting a strong head space for when I step into the

cage. Don’t get me wrong the stage fright is still there and

I do have crippling stage fright, but I feel a little less alone

when I face it now.

* Joe Stevenson is a retired American UFC star out of

Hesperia, California (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Hesperia,_California). He was the ultimate Fighter 2

tournament champion and is the rumored US Olympic

MMA coach for the 2028 Olympics.

Beyond the glamorous facade, what’s a burden you

carry that your fans may not be aware of?

That one day somebody will have to use what I teach

them. I want everyone to know it but I am afraid they will

have to use it.

I had a young girl named Hope who I had been teaching

for a year, she had come in due to bullying. During the

pandemic she had her home broken into and while one

guy looted her home another held her and her mother at

gun point.

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