'If I can make it out, you can too,' says Dyer before UFC fight

Shanelle Dyer celebrates beating Ravena Oliveira at UFC London in March

Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption,

Shanelle Dyer has won five of her eight bouts by knockout

ByPaul BattisonBBC Sport journalist

Published56 minutes ago

Shanelle Dyer's parents always encouraged her to play sports because they were worried about what the alternative could be.

In March, the Londoner introduced herself on the world stage as she knocked out Ravena Oliveira in stunning fashion in the second round on her UFC debut.

The performance follows the best part of a decade in sport, with Dyer eventually finding her home in mixed martial arts after trying ballet, gymnastics and football.

She grew up on a housing estate in west London which was troubled by knife crime and Dyer, now 25, believes she could have gone "down the wrong path" if not for her parents' encouragement.

"Some of it was difficult, especially when you go to school and you find out people in your class got stabbed - some people actually died from my neighbourhood," Dyer told BBC Sport.

"That's heartbreaking because we grew up in the same place, and that could have been me if I went down the wrong path.

"It just happened my parents and family and people around me put me on a great path. It just motivated me, I didn't want to be in that situation, I wanted to be in a better situation."

In 2020, Dyer lost her friend and MMA mentor Jahreau Shepherd when he was stabbed to death by his brother at his 30th birthday party.

Dyer was at the party, but left an hour before the incident happened.

On Saturday in Las Vegas, Dyer's nickname "The Nightmare" will be read out by announcer Bruce Buffer before her strawweight bout against American Elise Reed - an alias she adopted from Shepherd to help keep his memory alive.

"We had the same dream. I remember talking about how we were going to be UFC fighters, UFC champions, walk out to big crowds, that was our dream," said Dyer.

"He didn't get to live out his dream but I can so I'm gonna take him with me.

"Jay is always with me. In my corner, every morning if I don't want to go training I can hear 'get up, you get to live your life - do it'. He's always in the back of my mind."

'Surround yourself with the right people'

Dyer started her martial arts career in Muay Thai before transitioning to MMA, in which she has won seven of her eight professional fights, recording five knockouts.

She is hoping for a showing against Reed as impressive as her UFC debut, when she won a performance of the night bonus of $100,000 (£73,000).

The money is a life-changing sum for Dyer, and she has already started giving back to her parents for their part in helping her gravitate towards martial arts when she was younger.

"That bonus is a lot for me. The area I grew up in, you don't see that money in our lifetime, never mind in one night," Dyer explained.

"I'm taking my family to Paris after this fight, it's the first family trip I'm coming to, just to start showing them the bigger picture."

Killings involving a knife or sharp instrument fell by 21% last year, according to figures from police forces in England and Wales.

More than a quarter (28%) of knife-related offences were recorded by the Metropolitan Police in Greater London, although it saw a 17% fall in recorded knife crime compared with the previous year.

Dyer says her success in reaching the UFC proves to young people in troubled neighbourhoods that there is an alternative to gang violence if you "find your niche".

She said: "I have a lot of people on my estate who have found out who I am now. Walking down my estate people are like 'I can't believe you're in the UFC, you actually made it out'.

"Now they want to do the same thing and it's not even all sport, it's different things like music and business. If I can make it out, and I came from the same place as you, you can do exactly the same thing.

"Just surround yourself with the right people. Find great role models and find a place where you belong.

"If you love something put your heart into it. What's the worst thing that could happen?"