The incredible Dr. Rosi Sexton joins us on the line for episode 126 of Paddy Holohan’s No Shame Podcast. Rosi is a former mixed martial artist, mathematician, osteopath, writer, politician, musician & was the UK’s first ever female UFC fighter. Is there anything this woman can’t do?

On this week’s podcast Paddy & Rosie discuss everything that’s been happening over the last few weeks including the Covid-19 Pandemic, the Black Lives Matter campaign, the housing & homeless crisis, the impact of technology along with so much more.

Rosie is a graduate of Cambridge University, having studied mathematics, she later went on to the University of Manchester to achieve a MSc before completing a PhD in Computer Science. As a musician she played in the Royal Albert Hall, with the Reading Youth Orchestra.

During her MMA career, Rosie took on the likes of Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Gina Carano & Aisling Daly, all while being a mum to her son Lewis. The life of a fighter can be very individualistic by nature, requiring a degree of selfishness to succeed, however as a parent, kids always comes first, no matter what. Rosi tells Paddy about the challenge of finding a balance insisting it was her acceptance of always wanting to do more, across all areas of life, that enabled her to make it to the UFC.

“With everything I’ve done, the thing that keeps me working at it is the feeling that I’m not quite as good as I want to be, I’m not quite there yet, for me that’s the thing that drives me.”

During his own fight career, Paddy spent a week in camp training with Rosi at Next Generation Liverpool. Rosi was approaching the end of her MMA career by the time the UFC opened it’s doors to female fighters & the Hooligan firmly believes that Sexton could have been a UFC world champion if the call came during her prime.

In May 2019, Sexton was elected Councillor to Shirley-West of the Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council in the UK. At the exact same time in Ireland, Paddy was elected to Tallaght South. It’s quite possible that Rosi & Paddy are the only two former UFC athlete’s in the world to enter the political landscape. The Councillors swap notes on their experiences so far, with both experiencing highs & lows.

“The last people you want in politics are the people who want to be in power for the sake of it”

Rosi insists that she never planned on going into politics but after being approached by the Green Party, Sexton believed she could make a genuine difference to her community. Since then, the Councillor has become the Spokesperson for health & adult social care. It’s quite a challenging role given the fact social care workers in Solihull can’t afford to live there. The issue of housing & homelessness is never far from Paddy’s mind as he addresses multiple instances around Dublin over the past few weeks.

Also on this weeks podcast, Rosi talks about the impact technology has had on our lives insisting there are both advantages & disadvantages. The dangers of social media have been well documented on the podcast over the past 2 years & Sexton believes certain media outlets should be held accountable for selective reporting of facts to form a narrative. However, Rosi believes Lockdown would have been a lot tougher without the very same technology that enabled loved ones to stay in touch over the past few months.

“The skills that people have haven’t caught up with the technology that’s out there”

Rosie’ has the mindset of a champion, despite all of her success to date, she still always strives to be better. Her approach & philosophy on life is a fundamental ingredient for anyone looking to make it to the top.

The full episode #126 of Paddy Holohan’s No Shame Podcast is available now across all the usual platforms including iTunes, Spoity & to watch on Youtube.