UFC fighter seeks to inspire others after years of struggling with her own body image

There are a few fighters that have struggled with being bullied growing up.

UFC strawweight Paige VanZant says she enrolled in college early to get away from the high school bullying she was going through. UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier was bullied during his childhood until the day he stood up to his peer tormenting him. Uriah Hall got to a point during his childhood that he wanted to end the life of the person that was bullying him. Even Anderson Silva was bullied as a kid.

Fortunately, all of these fighters found martial arts and grew into some of the mixed martial arts’ biggest stars.

Fellow UFC star, Tecia Torres just released a lengthy statement on social media expressing her own case of being bullied and shamed growing up. Torres is using her story as a piece of inspiration for others that may be going through a similar situation.

“Truth be told, for as long as I can remember I’ve struggled with my body image. Thanks to my parents I am naturally gifted with a muscular petite frame.

“Growing up I was on the sour end of bullying, to the point were girls in my middle school class would draw a “masculine muscular” looking women on the board, in an attempt to make fun of me. It worked. I felt alone and like my body was different. Looking back I was different. My young body was a product of my hard work. I’ve been a martial artist since age 5 and I’ve always been an athlete.

“During these years, adult woman would always stop my mom and ask what I did. They loved my body. I never could quite grasp why they would want my figure for their own.

“Fast forward to a Mixed Martial Arts career in the @ufc. The bullying began again with other adult women competitors speaking up as if they had known me my entire life or were apart of my daily activity. Because I am in such phenomenal shape I must me using some type of performance enhancing drug. On The Ultimate Fighter rumor had it I was throwing up. I’ve always found these comments so hilarious. I’m confident in saying I’m one of cleanest athletes in the sport. I’m very open about my straightedge lifestyle.

“On the opposite side of silly adult bullying I am grateful to live in a generation where strong is being seen as beautiful and little girls are growing up knowing their bodies were made beautifully no matter what shape, size, or color it is. It took me a long time to love my body image. What motivates me even more is knowing that I’m inspiring all sorts of people to pursue their dreams and create goals. You are my motivation, so thank you for that and for following my career and life whether it’s during an up or a down. I love you. – Tecia

“P.S I’m going to be writing a first hand essay that will be published in @teenvogue similar to this. Look out for it in the next few months. XoKo 📸: @ohrangutang 💄: @cristinapilo”

Truth be told, for as long as I can remember I've struggled with my body image. Thanks to my parents I am naturally gifted with a muscular petite frame. Growing up I was on the sour end of bullying, to the point were girls in my middle school class would draw a "masculine muscular" looking women on the board, in an attempt to make fun of me. It worked. I felt alone and like my body was different. Looking back I was different. My young body was a product of my hard work. I've been a martial artist since age 5 and I've always been an athlete. During these years, adult woman would always stop my mom and ask what I did. They loved my body. I never could quite grasp why they would want my figure for their own. Fast forward to a Mixed Martial Arts career in the @ufc. The bullying began again with other adult women competitors speaking up as if they had known me my entire life or were apart of my daily activity. Because I am in such phenomenal shape I must me using some type of performance enhancing drug. On The Ultimate Fighter rumor had it I was throwing up. I've always found these comments so hilarious. I'm confident in saying I'm one of cleanest athletes in the sport. I'm very open about my straightedge lifestyle. On the opposite side of silly adult bullying I am grateful to live in a generation where strong is being seen as beautiful and little girls are growing up knowing their bodies were made beautifully no matter what shape, size, or color it is. It took me a long time to love my body image. What motivates me even more is knowing that I'm inspiring all sorts of people to pursue their dreams and create goals. You are my motivation, so thank you for that and for following my career and life whether it's during an up or a down. I love you. – Tecia P.S I'm going to be writing a first hand essay that will be published in @teenvogue similar to this. Look out for it in the next few months. XoKo 📸: @ohrangutang 💄: @cristinapilo

A post shared by Tecia Torres (@teciatorres) on Apr 28, 2017 at 9:28am PDT

Do you like the message from Tecia Torres? Be sure to share this to help radiate her inspiration to others that may be going through a tough situation in life!

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 4/28/2017.