The Melbourne midwife with a wild double life

In her day job, Sara Collins delivers babies.

In her secret-to-many second life, she delivers scarf hold armlock and rear-naked choke submissions.

A mild-mannered Melbourne midwife who hates confrontation - and a fearsome professional mixed martial artist with a perfect 6-0 record.

Watch all the action from PFL Lyon 2025, including Cris Cyborg vs Sara Collins on December 14, live and on demand on Stan Sport

But the 35-year-old hasn't been welcoming any little bundles of joy into the world this week.

She's got the small matter of a date in the Professional Fighters League cage in Lyon, France to attend to.

Her dance partner? None other than Cris Cyborg, a combat sports pioneer who remains one of the baddest women on the planet.

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"I haven't told many people (in MMA) that I'm a midwife," Collins tells Wide World of Sport ahead of Sunday's (AEDT) co-main event fight for the women's featherweight world title.

"And I don't tell many midwives at work that I fight MMA, so I try and keep it separate. I had my routine medicals with the eye doctor yesterday. I walked in and he's like, 'you're fighting Chris Cyborg?'

"And I was like, 'yeah.' That doesn't happen often, but it has happened a couple of times."https://x.com/StanSportAU/status/1997881444274954322?s=20

Collins works fulltime as a midwife when she is not in fight camp.

It is hard to reconcile the friendly face staring back on a Zoom call with the blood-splattered, teeth-baring version from primal victory celebrations.

"I actually hate confrontation so much," Collins chuckles.

"Like road rage, anything. Someone yells at me on the road, I'm like, 'sorry, I hate confrontation.' I just definitely got into no fights at school. I see judo and MMA as a sport, and that's it."

Ah yes, judo.

That was Collins' first sporting love from age 10-25.

She was representing Australia at 16 at the junior world championships and at the senior level from 18 - including the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

"I stopped doing judo because I had a lot of injuries," Collins explains.

"I've had like six surgeries. Also judo doesn't pay anything, so I was constantly struggling to pay rent, pay the bills while doing judo.

"I was 25 and I snapped my Achilles, had that surgery, it was a long recovery back. And I was like, 'I can't do this anymore.'

"When I snapped my Achilles, it was honestly a massive relief because I didn't have to try and find money to pay for the next judo trip. But I knew I still wanted to compete."

Too many injuries, makes sense.

How about golf, tennis, perhaps some long-distance running? Nope.

"My coach, Daniel Kelly, he transitioned from judo into MMA and was in the UFC at the time. I talked to him and was like, 'look, I still want to compete, maybe I'll try some MMA."

Collins had her first pro fight in 2019 and saw off two more Australian fighters before stepping up overseas.

She took down Pam Sorenson and Sinead Kavanagh in Bellator events before destroying Leah McCourt to earn a shot at Cyborg.

"I've never met her. It's going to be cool though," Collins says.

"This is definitely my biggest fight to date. I called out for this fight a year ago... so I've had a year to mentally prepare that I will be fighting Cyborg, and maybe now it's just sinking in.

"She's one of the best women to ever do MMA so it's impossible not to know who she is if you follow any MMA.

"She just seems like a good person, a nice person, and then she gets in the cage and she's fricking scary. She's great at everything."

Cyborg (28-2) is regarded as one of the greatest female fighters of all-time and has been a champion in every major organisation she has competed in.

The 40-year-old Brazilian last defended her featherweight title in 2023 when she stopped Cat Zingano at Bellator 300.

Cyborg then showcased her legendary toughness to beat compatriot Larissa Pacheco in PFL's bloody Battle of the Giants in Riyadh last year.

"She's definitely changed how she fights, but I think she's way smarter in the cage and the way she fights now," Collins observed.

"Her fight IQ in her last fight, you could just tell she changed a lot and she was fighting way smarter."

The Lyon fight card is co-headlined by Vadim Nemkov vs Renan Ferreira for the heavyweight world title and Cyborg won't be remotely bothered by the bright lights.

It will be a new experience for Collins but she is confident she can shock the fight world.https://x.com/PFLMMA/status/1998168231006384498?s=20

"Judo is one of the best bases to have for MMA," she said.

"It's the hardest to learn as an adult and it's hardest to defend. I've just got a good feeling, like in my hips, in my movement, that I don't think she's going to be able to stop, even if she trains with judo people. She hasn't been doing it her whole life like I have, so I think that's going to be my big advantage.

"I'm just going to be able to feel things better and be able to do the grappling takedowns, from stand up to the ground, better. I'm very nervous walking out to the cage, but as soon as that cage door shuts and locks, I feel this very calming feeling.https://x.com/jakepaul/status/1998053609309651132?s=20

"It's hard to explain, it just happens and I feel very calm in there once the door's shut and I see my opponent across from me and you realise they're human like you are. We both bleed red.

"I think once I'm in there, it's going to be fine, it's just the lead up to it that I get very nervous and I talk my brain into stupid scenarios."

Collins' mother will be cheering on at a heaving LDLC Arena... somewhat reluctantly.

"Oh yeah, she hates it," daughter admits.

"I told her I'm not going to talk to her fight week, I'll talk to her after the fight. She has too much nervous energy around me. So it's great that she can come, but yeah, I will not be seeing her before I fight."