I'm an athlete. I'm a performer. Why the hell did I never think of combining the two? Sonya Deville More Quotes by Sonya Deville More Quotes From Sonya Deville Sonya Deville was originally supposed to be NJ Deville to help me keep my MMA nickname of 'The Jersey Devil' after debating back and forth we agreed on Sonya Deville. Sonya Deville help back me devil Being a lifelong athlete, I am a firm believer that I am who I am today because of sports. Not only did it give me structure and a solid foundation, but it gave me a sense of failure and how to overcome failure. Sonya Deville me failure today sports I have a theory that confidence comes from self-worth. Sonya Deville self-worth confidence theory I live for the pressure, I live for the moments when I'm deep in the match, out of breath, hurt and feel like throwing up. It's in those moments that I push through, I keep punching, I keep going forward, because no matter what, I will never stop. Sonya Deville deep feel keep-going hurt My life is amazing. I get paid to hurt people. Sonya Deville my-life hurt life people Don't be afraid. Don't be ashamed. Don't ever apologize for your sexuality. Just be you. Sonya Deville your you sexuality ashamed It's not a good feeling to hide a huge part of your life. If you were meant to be somebody else, you'd be somebody else, so don't change who you are. Sonya Deville good you change life I'm a very passionate person. I'm Italian, it's in my blood so when I care about something, I get emotional. Sonya Deville person emotional care blood Let's just say my phone blew up when I came out on global television. The only people that knew were my immediate family members and my closest friends, maybe like three of them. So you can imagine how many texts and emails and Facebook messages that I got after coming out, most of which were very supportive from the LGBT community. Sonya Deville you family community people I think WWE superstars and Divas are here to change lives. That's why they do what they do. They want to make an impact on the world. Sonya Deville think change want world I really want to utilize my MMA knowledge in my WWE performance. Sonya Deville mma performance want knowledge I started training at a local gym in New Jersey, and the day of my high school graduation, I packed up everything in my car and moved to Coconut Creek, Florida, where I trained with one of the best gyms in the world, American Top Team. Sonya Deville best day gym car I've always been athletic my entire life and loved sports. Sonya Deville loved always sports life A good friend of mine, Maria Menounos, she's kind of like a mentor to me. She dabbled in WWE and pro wrestling, and she said 'This is the perfect opportunity for you.' Once I started doing my research about the competition and the company, I fell in love with WWE even more. Sonya Deville good me you love I had so much fun in the 'Tough Enough' barracks. Sonya Deville so-much-fun tough enough fun My MMA background, I think, only enhances my experience on 'Tough Enough' or in the WWE in general. Sonya Deville think tough experience enough I just think I'm very honest and I say how I feel. Some people like that about me. Some people hate that about me. Sonya Deville feel me hate people I am an entertainer and I am an athlete, and WWE is the biggest performance-based show in the world. Sonya Deville show i-am athlete world With any minority group, it takes a strong presence in the public eye to make a change because everything nowadays is social media. Sonya Deville social-media eye strong change It's insane how many fans I have from the LGBTQ+ community. I would say the majority of my fanbase are young, gay women. Sonya Deville say women gay community