In 2015, Melissa Croden took a leave of absence from her job as a paramedic to spend three months in Thailand. She wanted to know whether mixed martial arts was really for her.

“I wanted to test myself and see if I could handle the demands of this sport … I went there and trained my butt off and just fell in love with the sport,” she recalled. “I was like ‘This is what I want to do’ and ever since that moment, I’ve been pursuing it pretty hard and have put my (whole) being into it.”

A decade later, that leap of faith has led Croden to Vancouver’s Rogers Arena.

On Saturday, the 34-year-old bantamweight from Calgary will make her UFC debut, facing Brazil’s Tainara (Thai Panther) Lisboa in the opening bout of the UFC Fight Night card.

Croden had yet to have an amateur bout when she arrive

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