Roman Faraldo: My Daughter’s Harrowing Condition Fueled Me with New Drive for My Career

Seeing his daughter fighting for her life gave Roman Faraldo new purpose for his career.

After only two appearances under the Bellator MMA banner, Faraldo (5-0, 2-0 Bellator MMA) already made a name for himself as a finisher. His promotional debut saw him knocking out Pat Casey at Bellator 252 with a flying knee that paid homage to ATT teammate Jorge Masvidal’s knockout of Ben Askren. Then, the 28-year old ignored a significant height and reach difference with Trevor Gudde en route to put him away with punches in Round 1 at Bellator 255. Faraldo is scheduled to face Robert Turnquest at Bellator 271, but before that had to face what he considers the toughest challenge in his life. His daughter, Maxon, was born with a medical condition that didn’t allow her to breathe on her own in the first days of her life. While Faraldo didn’t mention it during the interview, there is a GoFundMe campaign campaign to help him and his wife to cover the medical expenses.

“Short story about it, basically my daughter was born with what’s called meconium aspiration,” Faraldo told Sherdog. “They had to [evacuate] her because she wasn’t able to breathe. They had her go through a surgery called ECMO, which basically acted like a heart and lungs for three weeks and allowed her lungs to heal from the damage. We were in the hospital for 52 days, I believe. So far, besides the damage that occurred during the lack of oxygen, everything else has been on full recovery. She’s doing great now. I can say that through that situation... Kids are resilient. Seeing her right from birth, just fighting for her life, it puts things in perspective. I definitely feel like a have a new drive, a new sense of drive. I’m definitely ready to turn it up in my career and start making some other moves to push things.”

Faraldo also discussed his passion for the “Star Wars” movies, training with Dustin Poirier at American Top Team, his clash with Gudde, and gave his prediction for his upcoming fight.

Tudor Leonte started writing about mixed martial arts in 2013 for Italian media outlets. His journey with Sherdog began in 2018 and he now covers One Championship and countless European shows. You can follow him on Twitter @MrTudorLeonte.