"With the women, it's less about ego and more about fighting. They have fewer opportunities to showcase their skills, so when they get the chance they tend to lay it all on the line." - Bodog Fight commentator Jeff Osborne
The best mixed martial arts fights are often the ones you wouldn't expect. Sometimes, seemingly out of nowhere, two fighters step up and put on the fight of the night, stealing the spotlight from supposedly bigger fights. Nowhere is that more true than in the women's division. If you’ve ever seen an MMA event featuring a female match, there’s an excellent chance that fight was the best one on the show. And if you've never seen a women’s MMA fight, here are some names to look for.
Bodog Fight’s first 135-pound women’s champion, Tara La Rosa is recognized around the world as the toughest woman in the sport.
With a crushing armbar victory over the previously undefeated Kelly Kobald in July 2007, La Rosa secured her place at the top with an impressive performance. As one of the world's most accomplished female grapplers, La Rosa recently won a spot on the American team for the upcoming World Grappling Championships, September 2007 in Antalya, Turkey. When she's not teaching hand-to-hand combat at Fort Bragg, La Rosa hones her skills in jiu-jitsu and muay thai kickboxing at American Top Team in Florida. "Everybody I train with is so good," she says. "I have absolutely terrific trainers in every respect."
Amanda Buckner looks like a fighter. With short-cropped hair and tattoos covering most of her body, it isn’t hard to imagine her knocking someone’s teeth out, which is exactly what she's been doing for quite a while. Training with her husband, professional MMA fighter Jay Jack, Buckner has amassed victories over some of the toughest women in the division. Using an aggressive "Ground and Pound" style of fighting, Bucker is a tough task for anyone. "I have a tattoo on my arm that pretty much sums it up for me," she says. "It's by Ernest Hemingway: 'The world breaks everyone and afterward many are stronger at the broken places.'"
Kelly Kobald trains at Minnesota Martial Arts Academy with Bodog Fight welterweight champion Nick Thompson and UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk. A powerhouse puncher with a no-nonsense style of fighting, she was undefeated before running into Tara LaRosa in New Jersey. Before the fight, many people, including LaRosa, thought Kobald was the favorite to win. The fight was a back-and-forth battle that saw both women take control at different points in the match. But, at 2:50 in the fourth round, LaRosa caught Kobald in a tight armlock and forced her to tap out. Now, Kobald is out for redemption and will face the always-scrappy Julie Kedzie this August in Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
Looking back, Shayna Bazler says the people from her past would never believe what she does now.
"I was a nerd," she says. "I used to play the cello in the junior symphony." Still, growing up around fighting helped Bazler find her path to mixed martial arts. "I grew up around wrestling," she explains, "and heard enough to know how a ground fighter will win most of the time." Studying adolescent counseling, religion and sports nutrition in university, Bazler recalls discovering MMA. "It helped me spiritually," she says. "It helped center me." Coming off a win over Jan Finney in King of the Cage, Bazler's only losses have come at the hands of Buckner and LaRosa.
A critical care nurse by profession, Laura D'Auguste fell into the world of mixed martial arts after taking self-defense classes in Brooklyn, N.Y. She went on to sweep her opponents, going undefeated in nine fights. D'Auguste was originally meant to face LaRosa in New Jersey for the women's 135-pound title, but a foot injury suffered during training forced her to withdraw from the fight and left room for Kobald to take her spot.
The daughter of Dallas Cowboy's backup quarterback Glenn Carano, Gina Carano came from a background in muay thai kickboxing, where she compiled a record of 12-1-1, before discovering MMA. A student of the famous Master Toddy, Carano is undefeated in MMA. Recently, she used her impressive striking skills to win a unanimous decision over Julie Kedzie at Elite XC. "Striking" is also an excellent way to describe her appearance, as Carano gets as much attention for her model-like good looks as she does for her fearsome fighting style.
Meeting Roxanne Modafferi, you would never think she was one of the top female fighters in the world. A full-time English teacher living in Toyko, Japan, she's the only person to defeat female-terror Jennifer Howe, who was universally recognized as the best female fighter in the world before losing to Modafferi – twice. After suffering a disappointing loss to Shayna Baszler in St. Petersburg, Modafferi has come back with a vengeance, winning four fights in a row to capture both the Fatal Femmes Fighting Lightweight Championship and the K-GRACE Women's Open-Weight Tournament.
Bodog Fight's top-ranked 125-pound fighter, Rosi Sexton has an impressive list of credentials. In addition to her black belt in taekwondo, she also has a Ph. D. in theoretical computer science and is currently studying medicine at Oxford. As if that wasn’t enough, she still finds time to train twice a day for a career as a professional mixed martial arts fighter. Rosi's last win was in Costa Rica, where her opponent, Windy Tomomi, suffered a horrifying broken ankle and had to be emergency heli-lifted from the ring for surgery.
A black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, "Mega Megu" has a reputation for ending fights fast and early with her explosive submission fighting style. She is undefeated and has won eight fights by submission, seven of those wins coming in the first round. This August, Fujii will look to add American Lisa Ward to her list of victims.
Fight fans call Carina Damm "The MMA Barbie" and it isn’t hard to see why. She's already graced the pages of Japanese Playboy, (with her clothes on, of course). But don't let her good looks fool you. An expert in capoeira and jiu-jitsu, Damm is equally capable of kicking you in the head and choking you into unconsciousness. This August, she returns to the ring to face Jessica Aguilar of the U.S.
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