Daria Berenato Says Her Return To MMA Feels Like ‘Coming Home’

As previously reported, Daria Berenato will be part of Invicta FC 62 as part of the commentary team and will also do cageside interviews. In an interview with Fightful, the former Sonya Deville spoke about her return to MMA and her feelings about it.

She said: “As cliché as this sounds, it really feels like I’m coming back home. I had three amateur fights. I was just kind of getting my feet wet when I signed with WWE, but I had been training since I was 15 / 16 years old and that was the first dream. That was what I wanted to do. I wanted to fight MMA and I wanted to act. So I found WWE and it was a great 10 years, but it kind of feels very nostalgic, very full circle, very close to my heart to be going back to where I started. The full plan was for it to be my career. I was obviously bartending to pay the bills, as we do out in LA, and I was in love with it. It was my whole world. I identified as an MMA fighter and then out of nowhere, a friend of mine, Maria Menounos called me and was like, ‘There’s this show, Tough Enough, they wanted me to do it, but I was like, ‘Oh God, no, but I have the perfect girl.’ I was like, ‘Well, what is it?’ and she was like, ‘Well, it’s a competition reality show.’ I was like, ‘Alright, well, that sounds like something I’m interested in.’ I didn’t know much about wrestling, aside from the Rock and John Cena. So I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I’ll take this opportunity.’ So one thing led to another that was 10 years ago now. But I really had this weird moment where I had to decide, I had an amateur title shot scheduled for the organization that I had fought for prior and I had to choose between Tough Enough and the amateur fight. It came down to my coaches being like, ‘You’re stupid if you don’t go do this opportunity, you can always come back to MMA.’ Obviously as you saw play out one thing led to another and I ended up 10 years at WWE. So I think that’s why it feels extra special. It wasn’t easy when I left it, but it is very exciting coming back. I had every intention of being—it’s easier to say in hindsight, obviously—but I had every intention of being successful in MMA. It was my entire life. I was committed. I was waking up at 6am with my boxing coach for two hours, then going to team training, then sparring. I was in it. So I had every intention of continuing and pursuing that path until Tough Enough came in my path and I went a different route.”