{"id":39006,"date":"2026-06-26T18:31:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T18:31:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Arya-Stark-details-journey-from-cleaning-bathrooms-to-PFL-San-Diego-201651"},"modified":"2026-06-26T18:31:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T18:31:34","slug":"arya-stark-details-journey-from-cleaning-bathrooms-to-pfl-san-diego","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/arya-stark-details-journey-from-cleaning-bathrooms-to-pfl-san-diego\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Arya Stark\u2019 details journey from cleaning bathrooms to PFL San Diego"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Even as a child, Ilara
\nJoanne<\/a> knew fighting would be her destiny, despite not knowing
\nthe sacrifices that laid ahead. While preparing for her clash
\nagainst former
\nLegacy Fighting Alliance<\/a> champion Shannon
\nClark<\/a>, \u201cArya Stark\u201d fondly looks back at the events that
\nbrought her to this point.<\/p>\n

\u201cI left the interior of the Brazilian state of Ceara. I\u2019m from the
\nback country,\u201d she shared with Sherdog in her native
\nPortuguese.<\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWhen I arrived at the state capital, Fortaleza, I found a place to
\ntrain. I started training in capoeira, kickboxing and jiu-jitsu. By
\nthe time I was 19, I had my pro debut. It\u2019s when I decided this is
\nhow I\u2019d be spending the rest of my life. As soon as I stepped off
\nthe cage, I told my coach that this is the life I wanted for
\nme.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ilara Joanne’s road from rural Brazil to PFL San Diego<\/h2>\n

Things haven\u2019t been easy, but she feels it\u2019s all been worth it. \u201cFrom my Bellator<\/a>
\ndebut in 2019 until now, I had to overcome multiple obstacles. I
\nworked as a security guard. I worked at a pizzeria. I cleaned
\nbathrooms. Twice, I got free lodging where I was training. Those
\nthings fed my dream. I never doubted I\u2019d one day be rewarded for my
\nhard work and dedication. This journey has brought me to places I\u2019d
\nnever imagined. I fought in Japan. I never thought I\u2019d find myself
\nin Japan one day!\u201d<\/p>\n

Top notch
\nfeatherweights headline PFL San Diego: Tune in Saturday, June 27 at
\n7 p.m. ET on ESPN 2<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Joanne faces Clark at
\nPFL San Diego<\/a> on June 27. Despite putting on gritty
\nperformances in both Bellator and the
\nProfessional Fighters League<\/a>, it\u2019s been hard to go on a winning
\nstreak. She hopes a new training approach may turn things
\naround.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got ready at my home team in Brazil \u2013
\nPitbull Brothers<\/a>. I\u2019m dedicating myself to training like never
\nbefore. I want more wins and more fights in the organization. I\u2019m
\nbetting on my grappling. I\u2019m putting in the effort to reawaken my
\nlove for jiu-jitsu. I love jiu-jitsu but I feel it\u2019s gone somewhat
\nby the wayside in my MMA bouts. I worked on my grappling so I can
\ndo what I enjoy. I worked primarily with coach Valdines
\nSilva<\/a>. The whole team pitched in, including head coaches
\nPatricio
\nFreire<\/a> and Patricky
\nFreire<\/a>. We all collaborated on my strategy, so we\u2019ll have the
\nbest possible outcome on fight night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joanne respects her opponent but sees areas that can be
\nexploited.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been studying Shannon. No one should be underestimated. She\u2019s
\ncoming off defending her LFA championship belt. Her strongest
\nattributes are her willpower and physical strength. I believe that
\nmy key advantages are my experience and technical level. I\u2019m
\nlooking forward to things playing out as well as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joanne not just fighting Clark; she’s fighting for the career
\nbuilt the hard way.<\/h2>\n

Ultimately, it is Joanne\u2019s wish to impart some hard-earned wisdom
\nwith those who may embark on the same adventure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lesson for anyone who\u2019s getting started today is this: you
\nonly lose if you give up. The important thing is to overcome all
\nobstacles and to never give up. Eventually, hard work is rewarded.
\nThat\u2019s what happened to me and I\u2019m very thankful to God for it. I\u2019m
\nalso thankful to my team, to my managers, and to the promotion.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even as a child, Ilara Joanne knew fighting would be her destiny, despite not knowing the sacrifices that laid ahead. While preparing for her clash against former Legacy Fighting Alliance champion Shannon Clark, \u201cArya Stark\u201d fondly looks back at the events that brought her to this point. \u201cI left the interior of the Brazilian state […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39007,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}