Female MMA

Female MMA Fighters Archive

Gina “Conviction” Carano
Gina Carano is an unbeaten female MMA fighter who could arguably be considered the “star” of female MMA. Born in 1982 in Texas, she currently lives in and fights out of Las Vegas, Nevada. She started out training in Muay Thai (Thai kickboxing) and fought internationally, gaining a pro Muay Thai record of 12-1-1. Since moving to MMA she has worked on her grappling and submission skills, and is currently 7-0-0 in MMA. She has gained popularity and some fame by appearing in the reality television series “Fight Girls” and going on to feature on the NBC series American Gladiators.

Hisae Watanabe
Born in Japan in 1980, Hisae Watanabe moved to female MMA from kickboxing and is currently the DEEP ladies champion at lightweight. She won the title by knocking out Satoho Shinashi, who was previously undefeated. She is currently 19-6-0 in women’s MMA.

Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos
Cristiane Santos was born in Brazil in 1985. She learned to fight MMA at the famous Chute Box Academy and won her first United States MMA fight against Shayna Baszler after previously fighting only in Brazil. Currently 6-1-0, she is a tremendous athlete and aggressive fighter, her fighting style has seen her labelled the Wanderlei Silva of female MMA.

Michelle “The Karate Hottie” Waterson
Make no mistake – Michelle Waterson may once have been a bikini model, but she is now a dedicated female MMA fighter and most recently won her Strikeforce debut by submitting Tyra Parker with a rear naked choke. Like Gina Carano she appeared in the “Fight Girls” show. She trains out of Albuquerque in New Mexico with Greg Jackson, where she is building on the striking skills she learned from karate and improving her ground game.

Megumi “Mega Megu” Fujii
Megumi Fujii was born in Japan in 1974, and is believed by many to be one of the best female MMA fighters on the planet today. She is trained by Hiroyuki Abe and the former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett. She holds the most female grappling decorations in Japan and has placed 2nd five times in the World Sambo Championships among numerous other accomplishments. She is currently undefeated in MMA with a record of 16-0-0, winning her last fight against Tomoko Morii by submission (armbar).

Julie “Jules” Kedzie
Born in 1981 in Bloomington, Indiana, Julie Kedzie is a professional female MMA fighter whose record is currently 9-7-0. She has won first place in the World Kickboxing Association National Title and also first place in the Extreme Grappling Open. Her kickboxing record is 4-1-1 and she won the Hook n Shoot Grand Prix in 2005, a female MMA event in which she defeated three women in one night. Her most recent MMA fight was at Battlequest 8 where she defeated Angela Hayes by submission (armbar).

Erin “Tough Enough” Toughill
Erin Toughill is a professional female MMA fighter and also a professional boxer. She was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1977. Although she retired in 2007, she came back in 2008 to fight Jan Filey at PFC 11 where she won by unanimous decision. She got into fighting through kickboxing, taking up BJJ a couple of years after. Her MMA record is 8-3-1 and her pro boxing record is 7-3-1.

Satoko “Princess Satoko” Shinashi
Satoko Shinashi is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Sambo specialist who currently holds an MMA record of 29-2-2. Born in Tokyo, Japan in 1977, she is famous for submitting her opponents – often by armbar. Of her 29 wins, 23 were by submission. Among her grappling achievements she took third place at the 2000 World Sambo Championship and took first place at the All Japan Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championship in 2002. Her last MMA fight was at DEEP 38 Impact where she won by submission (armbar) against Yukiko Seki.

Tara LaRosa
Tara LaRosa is a female MMA fighter who was born in Woodstown, New Jersey.
She started training in Judo, which led her into Jiu Jitsu and then submission grappling. From there she started to train MMA, incorporating Muay Thai and BJJ into her routine. Her BJJ purple belt was presented to her in 2005 by none other than Royce Gracie. She scored a win over Kelly Kobald at Bodog Fight and a submission victory (triangle choke) in her last fight against Cody Welchin.
Her MMA record is currently 15-1-0.

Roxanne Modafferi
Born in Wilmington, Delaware in 1982, Roxanne Modafferi now lives and trains in Japan. She began her martial arts training with Tae Kwon Do, also leaning Judo, Kempo, BJJ and finally moving on to MMA. Aside from her MMA career, she competed in 2005 at the Abu Dhabi Grappling Tournament.
In 2007 she became the Women’s Open-weight Tournament Champion at K-GRACE, and in her last fight defeated Chisa Yonezawa with a unanimous decision victory. She is currently 13-4-0 in MMA.

Amanda Buckner
Amanda Buckner was born in Poland, Maine and fights out of the Academy of MMA in Portland, which she runs and co-owns with her husband Jay Jack. She started in martial arts in 2001 and is considered a very well rounded female MMA fighter. Some of the competitions she has fought and won in include Extreme Challenge, Rocky Mountain Slammer, Grapplers quest and Ultimate Athlete. Currently 11-5-1 in MMA, she lost her last fight by unanimous decision to Takayo Hashi at FFF 4.

Jennifer Howe
Jennifer Howe is a female MMA fighter who was born in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1973. Aside from having a background in boxing, she has studied BJJ and also trained with Team Extreme and with former UFC champ Pat Miletich.
She remained undefeated in female MMA from her first fight at Extreme Challenge in 1998 where she won by submission (rear naked choke) over Terry Lukomski up until 2004, when she lost by unanimous decision to Roxanne Modafferi. She won her last fight against Jennifer Fields by TKO, bringing her MMA record to 13-2-0.

Shayna “Queen of Spades” Baszler
Shayna Baszler was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and currently has a MMA record of 9-5-0. She is somewhat a submission expert with all nine of her current wins via submission. Among her wins are victories over Julie Kedsie, Roxanne Modafferi and Keiko Tamai. Most recently she fought against Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos at EliteXC “Unfinished Business” on July 26th 2008, where she lost due to a TKO in the second round.

Takayo Hashi
Born in Japan in October 1977, Takayo Hashi is a female MMA fighter with a current record of 11-1-0. Her only loss to date was against Hitomi Akano at Smackgirl- Dynamic in 2005 where she lost by submission in the first round. Most of her wins so far have been by decision, including those over Kazuma Morohoshi, Miki Morifuji and in her most recent fight Amanda Buckner. She also avenged her loss to Akano, beating her by decision at Smackgirl- Queen’s Hottest Summer in September 2007.

Rosi Sexton
Rosi Sexton is a British female MMA fighter who was born in Manchester, England in July 1977. She fights out of the Straight Blast Gym and has a current MMA fight record of 9-1-0. Apart from training and competing in MMA, she has black belts in both Tae Kwon Do and Ju Jitsu. Her only loss to date was by TKO by Gina Carano at World Pro Fighting Championships 1 in September 2006. Since then she has scored wins over Carina Damm, Tomomi Sunaba, Julia Berezikova and most recently Debi Purcell, who she beat by split decision at ShoXC: Suganuma vs Hamman II in August 2008.

Debi “Whiplash” Purcell
Debi Purcell is an American female MMA fighter who fights out of the Ruas Vale Tudo camp. As well as having a black belt in Ruas Vale tudo, she also has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and is experienced in boxing, wrestling, Muay Thai and submission grappling among other disciplines. She took part in the first King of the Cage female MMA fight against Nicole Albrect in October 2002 which she won by unanimous decision. Her current MMA record is 4-2-0, her most recent fight being a split decision loss to Rosi Sexton in August 2008, at ShoXC: Suganuma vs Hamman II in August 2008.

____________________________________________________________

Upcoming MMA Event Special
Andria Caplan takes on Jennifer Martin at Matrix Fights 2 this Friday June 11th.
Location: The Arena – 7 West Ritner St, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
For more information check out thirdpopmma.com