Watching Laura Sanko deliver powerful monologues about Ian Heinisch and Devonte Smith on this season’s final two episodes of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series, you wouldn’t know that the Kansas City resident wasn’t a trained journalist.
Speaking directly into the camera, the 35-year-old recounted the hardships and struggles that led each man down their respective paths to the Octagon, conveying their stories with the gravitas their journeys – and the individual journeys of all the men and women who make their living inside the Octagon – deserve.
“I was close to crying,” says Sanko regarding her monologue on Heinisch, the LFA middleweight standout who earned a UFC contract with a first-round stoppage victory over Justin Sumter on the season’s penultimate show.