Q and A: Canada's Croden on balancing UFC goals with life on the front lines

For Calgary's Melissa Croden, embracing chaos is routine. Long before she realized her dream of competing in the UFC, Croden was serving her community as a primary care paramedic with Alberta Health Services, helping people through some of the most difficult moments of their lives.

Now preparing to compete in her home province for the world’s top MMA promotion, Croden continues to balance the demands of life on the front lines with the pursuit of success inside the octagon.

Q: Casual fans may not realize this, but when you're not training for a fight, you're working as a frontline paramedic. It looks like you keep a very busy schedule.

Melissa Croden: Yeah, I work as a primary care paramedic for Alberta Health Services. I've been doing that since 2012. It's a job that has supported me throughout this journey. I've been working casual for a number of years so that I could train full-time and pursue this dream while giving it everything I have.
That strategy paid off. I have a lot of support from frontline staff I've worked with over the years. They've seen me from my very first Muay Thai fight all the way to my UFC debut, so I have a lot of supporters within that profession.

Q: Your role as a paramedic comes with a tremendous amount of pressure. So does MMA. Do you like the challenge of high-stress situations?

Croden: I think I've always been a person who's drawn to chaos.
It's actually not uncommon for fighters to be drawn to professions like firefighting, emergency medicine, EMS or the military. I think fighters are often searching for meaning in the bigger picture of life. That's always been part of who I am. EMS gave me a way to contribute and make the world a better place. Through fighting, I hope I can achieve the same goal. Through fighting, I hope I can inspire people to pursue difficult things and see what's possible when they're willing to commit to a goal.

Q: The last time you fought was in Winnipeg, your walkout song was an interesting choice: Johnny Cash's The Man Comes Around. It's not a typical fighter walkout song. It's deliberately slow and calm but also carries an ominous tone. Why did you choose it?

Croden: Yeah. I'm a paradoxical human being. The Man Comes Around has some Revelation vibes to it. I'm a woman of faith and would consider myself Christian. The song just spoke to me. There's a sense of impending doom that my opponent might feel, but it's also another expression of my own exploration of faith. Those two things together just felt right. If I had to pick the perfect image to represent myself, it would be a unicorn with the Grim Reaper riding on it. (Laughs) I’m changing up the song this weekend. I always like to change my walk-out song. I'm walking out to a Corb Lund song. I hope the Alberta crowd will like that.

Q: During your post-fight interview in Winnipeg, rather than call out another fighter or reflect on your victory, you encouraged Canadians to do a better job of looking after one another. What made you go there during such a big moment?

Melissa Croden: It wasn't meant to be a political statement or anything. The message was more about not allowing our government to divide us further. Divide and conquer is one of the easiest ways to control a population, and you see that all the time. I felt like we need to take care of each other instead. It wasn't planned. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. I just thought maybe I should say something that somebody out there might need to hear. You never know.

Q: What would you say to young Canadian women who dream of pursuing a career in mixed martial arts?

Melissa Croden: Hunker down for the long haul. Be patient. Take your time. Learn to recognize when opportunity presents itself and then go for it.