Was UFC announcer Laura Sanko a fighter and what was her record?

Laura Sanko with UFC president Dana White
Laura Sanko with UFC president Dana White

Laura Sanko has climbed to the top of MMA media hierarchy and is now one of the leading UFC reporters on ESPN.

However, Laura Sanko indeed used to be a fighter back in the day. Nicknamed 'Fancy', Sanko has five amateur bouts and one professional fight to her name in her short-lived MMA career that spanned from September, 2010 to January, 2013.

Laura Sanko debuted in amateur fighting with a win over Amanda Hein via second-round TKO by submission to punches. After a loss to Leslie Lockwood in her second amateur bout, Laura Sanko went on to pick up three back-to-back wins against Emily Reed, Kyla Potter, and Nadia Nixon before making her way into professional fighting. The loss to Lockwood in October, 2010 is the only defeat of her career.

Laura Sanko has fought in only one professional bout before switching career to media and journalism. In that fight, she faced Cassie Rovv at Invicta FC 4 - Esparza vs. Hyatt and won it comfortably with a second-round submission via rear-naked choke hold.

Watch the video of of the fight HERE.


Laura Sanko: My dream would be to eventually be part of that booth

Having proved her mettle with MMA reporting, the ultimate goal for Laura Sanko is to end up in the color commentary table at cageside, possibly along with veteran UFC analysts Jon Anik, Joe Rogan, and the likes.

In a 2020 interview with MMA Junkie, Laura Sanko detailed her aspirations and where she sees herself in UFC in the future.

"My dream would be to eventually be part of that booth. One of the things that’s kind of allowed me to succeed in this job despite no broadcasting training whatsoever, is I do really understand the fight game. Over the years, I feel like behind the scenes, in production meeting and even just hanging out, I’ve been able to kind of demonstrate to all of the guys, whether it’s Paul (Felder) or Dominick (Cruz) or (Michael) Bisping, that I really do what the hell I’m talking about. My hope is that one day I can have a little bit, even more of a voice there. But any amount of time I can spend there talking to those guys is pretty awesome."

Laura Sanko recently got the opportunity to achieve that dream of hers partially with LFA.

When asked about the possibility of that happening in UFC, Dana White told Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports that she will be there at the desk when she is ready.

Quick Links

Edited by aditya.rangarajan