Daria Berenato, aka Sonya Deville, shared the ring with The Four Horsewomen of UFC, and they beat her up.
At least, that's how Berenato remembers it. The former Sonya Deville recently made her return to the world of MMA, serving as a special guest color analyst for Invicta FC 62. The show, which aired on Friday, May 16, marked Berenato's triumphant comeback to mixed martial arts, something she's loved since before even becoming a professional wrestler. Throughout Berenato's WWE career, she was perceived as an MMA-type wrestler so when other MMA fighters -- namely The Four Horsewomen of UFC -- came into the company, they trained with Berenato.
Berenato recently told Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp a story about training with the Four Horsewomen, specifically Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler.
"When I first started, obviously my character was predominantly built around mixed martial arts and cornering the hair and the Muay Thai skirt and everything. So it was heavily a part of my arsenal and all I really knew at the time. I remember doing the shoot style drills in Sara Amato's class—Sarah Stock and Sara Amato were coaching the class. We would do the person goes on all fours and you just have to shoot on them and try to take them down and shoot pin them and that was like my bread and butter. I love stuff like that. So I was having so much fun and I remember when Shayna, Jessamyn, Marina and Ronda got signed, they would come to the PC. Me and Mandy were actually taking bumps for them. I remember teaching Ronda a clothesline and taking bumps for her. I was like, ‘Can we roll around?’ and she was like, ‘Yeah.’ So I got to roll around and shoot with Ronda, also Shayna. Obviously they both kicked my ass. I’m a blue belt over here in BJJ, but it was really cool and really fun," Berenato said.
WWE opted not to extend Berenato's contract in February of 2025.
For more on Berenato's return to MMA and her MMA roots, click here. To read about whether Berenato has closed the door on a return to professional wrestling, click here.
Berenato's full interview with Sean Ross Sapp can be seen in the video embedded above.
