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1-6 of 6
- AnnMaria De Mars, was born AnnMaria Burns on August 15, 1958 at Scott Air Field Base in Alton, Illinois. De Mars is a Rokudan (6th Degree Blackbelt), and was the first American to win a Gold medal at the 1984 World Judo Championships in Vienna. She is the mother to four daughters - sports journalist Maria Burns Ortiz, Jennifer Rousey, Olympic Bronze Medalist and UFC Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey, and Julia DeMars. De Mars is of Venezuelan descent.
As a child, AnnMaria admits to being a short, fat, little kid that wore thick glasses, spent all her time sitting in her room, eating, and reading books. Her three brothers gave her the nickname "Stumpy" because she was built like a tree stump. AnnMaria's mother demanded she do some type of physical activity, so at the age of 12, she began training in Judo at the local YMCA.
De Mars won her first judo competition, the USJA Nationals, at the age of 16. That same year she attended Washington University in St. Louis as a Business Major. At age 18 she enrolled in the university foreign exchange program, which enabled her to attend Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan. While there, she studied Judo under Sensei Osawa, one of the most respected Judo instructors in the world.
In 1978 she graduated with a degree in business, won the U.S. Judo Senior and Collegiate Nationals, as well as the U.S. Open. De Mars then earned an MBA in 1980 from the University of Minnesota. Returning to Judo in 1981, she took the Bronze in the Tornoi d'Orleans and British Open Tournaments. In 1982 she was ranked #1 in the USJI rankings and won the US Open. She then took a year off to give birth to daughter Maria. During this time she finished her academic studies, graduating with a MA and PhD in Educational Psychology from the University of California, Riverside.
Throughout 1983 and 1984 De Mars competed in various Judo tournaments - the Pan American Games, the US Open, the Austrian Open, Canada Cup, and the US Senior Nationals. Coming out of retirement, she won the 1984 World Judo Championships. De Mars then retired from Judo competition to raise her family and pursue a career in education and business.
In 2013 Forbes listed De Mars on its annual "40 Women to Watch Over 40". She is CEO of 7 Generation Games and The Julia Group. She is also an author, blogger, statistical consultant, Native American activist, and Judo coach. - Born October 17, 1981 in Albuquerque, New Mexico to parents Roger Holm and Tammy Bredy, Holly Holm is considered to be one of the greatest female boxers of all time. Holm attended Manzano High School where she wanted to take up wrestling, but her parent's wouldn't allow it since there were no girl's teams. She took up kickboxing as an alternative. At the age of 17 she began sparring, and had her first fight when she turned 18.
Mike Winkeljohn, Holm's trainer, saw immediate potential, and in 2001 Holm won the national title in the international rules adult women's division in Ringside's amateur kickboxing tournament. Her amateur kickboxing record stands at 6-0-2. Her boxing debut was in January of 2002 and her professional debut as a kickboxer was five months later on June 1.
Holm's boxing record is an astounding 33 wins - 2 losses - 3 draws, winning both the WBF Female World Light Welterweight and World Welterweight titles. In 2012 she was named Female Fighter of the Year and also received an award for Female Fight of the Year. She is an 18-time world champion across three weight classes.
Holm retired from boxing in 2013 to pursue a career in MMA, and on July 10, 2014 she signed a mulit-fight contract with the UFC. She appears in the film Fight Valley (2016) along with sister UFC fighter Miesha Tate. - Actress
- Stunts
Julie Kedzie was born in Chicago, Illinois. The family moved to Bloomington, Indiana where she began studying Tae Kwon Do at the age of 4. Her progression in Tae Kwon Do led her to other martial arts - Muay Thai Kickboxing and Jiu Jitsu. She is a third degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and has a purple belt under Greg Jackson.
Kedzie has a Bachelors degree in English Literature from Indiana University. While in school she took up as many odd jobs as she could to be able to pay for her fight training. Kedzie revealed that she struggled with bulimia, an eating disorder, from the age of 18, the year after her parents divorced. She believes prescription medication triggered severe depression and anxiety. Her older sister confronted her and Kedzie sought out therapy and hasn't touched the medication since.
She was first introduced to MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) through the viewing of the DVD Hook N Shoot, a series of all female fights. She was hooked and decided to make a career in MMA. She relocated to California where she trained with one of the fighters she had seen on the DVD. Arriving back in Indiana in 2004, she was invited to participate in the next Hook N Shoot Tournament, which she ended up winning.
On February 10, 2007 she faced Gina Carano in the first-ever cable televised female fight on Showtime. Kedzie lost the decision but the two women received "Fight of the Night" honors. Her popularity skyrocketed, her spunky and sassy personality making her an instant fan favorite.
Kedzie amassed a 16-13 MMA record. Her fight against Strikeforce's Miesha Tate on August, 18, 2012 although a loss, was considered to be one of the most exciting fights of the year. Her final two MMA fights took place in the UFC octagon in 2013.
Retiring after her 29th professional fight, she does MMA color commentary, helps train other fighters at the prestigious Jackson/Winklejohn MMA fight camp in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is the fight matchmaker for Invicta Fighting Championships, a fight series that gives women fighters a platform to perform and is known for developing female stars in the sport.- Born in Reading Pennsylvania in 1980, Ross moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1994. He first discovered Muay Thai at the age of 14 when he saw a match on ESPN. He spent his teen years in a fog of drinking and partying. Ross had always dreamed of being a fighter and at the urging of a close friend, he looked into Muay Thai but thought it required too much of a commitment. When that same friend died at 18 years old, the shock sent Ross spiraling out of control and into a life of alcohol addiction that would last for four years.
In 2003, a series of events became the fuel for turning his life around. One of his partying friends was involved in a car accident while driving under the influence, another put himself through the windshield of a car while doing the same thing. Ross himself was pulled over for driving over 100 mph in an emergency lane. While drinking one night with then-girlfriend, Gina Carano, he felt his life was going nowhere and decided to make a change. He quit drinking, cold turkey, walked into a kickboxing gym the next day, and began training with Master Toddy. Nine months later Ross had his first fight in Salt Lake City, Utah. The opponent he was to face didn't show so he took the only other available opponent. He was outweighed by 20 pounds and lost the fight when his corner threw in the towel.
Never backing down from a fight has become his signature. He is ranked as one of the best kickboxers in the world. - Born March 26, 1994, Paige Michelle VanZant grew up in the small northwest town of Dayton, Oregon. A tomboy, she got her first ATV at the age of 8, enjoyed fishing and hunting with her father, and routinely got into boxing matches with her brother and the neighborhood boys.
Her parents owned a dance studio and VanZant excelled at the art, dancing competitively for 13 years. A natural athlete, she became a varsity cheerleader in high school as an underclassman where she began to be bullied and harassed by her peers. The incidents became so rampant that she eventually contacted the authorities on how to best deal with the situation. One of the responding officers suggested she learn self-defense. Shortly after this incident her family relocated to Reno, Nevada where VanZant took the officer's advice and enrolled in boxing classes.
A brilliant student, she began taking college courses at the age of 16 and received her GED two years ahead of schedule. During this time her father suggested she try MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) and she invested herself fully in the discipline. She is noted for her constant pressure and aggressive grappling style of fighting and has a blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
VanZant has stated that continuous bullying in high school left her ashamed of her looks, but that with fighting she found self-confidence and has become a stronger person for it. Because of her personal experiences, she is an outspoken advocate against bullying.
In 2012 VanZant made her pro MMA debut and began to garner attention. In 2013 she was slated to appear on The Ultimate Fighter television series but had to pull out due to age restrictions since she was only 20 years old.
At the age of 20, VanZant made her UFC Strawweight debut on November 22, 2014 where she defeated Kailin Curran in stunning fashion by TKO in the third round. She is one of the youngest fighters to receive the Fight of the Night award. - Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Ronda Rousey burst onto the women's MMA scene in August of 2010. Born in Riverside County, California on February 1, 1987 to parents Ron Rousey and AnnMaria DeMars, little Ronda was born with an umbilical cord wrapped around her neck that damaged her vocal cords. She didn't speak coherently until the age of six. Ronda was a self-professed tomboy and swam from the ages of 6 to 10. She competed on the Jr. Olympic swim team where she placed in the state level.
Because of her mother, a 7th degree black belt and 1984 World Judo Champion, Ronda took up the sport. She had a hard time socializing with other kids and found that Judo gave her confidence. She holds a 4th degree black belt in the martial art.
Ronda's Judo career is a storied one. At 17 she became the youngest judoka in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. That same year she won a gold medal at the World Junior Judo Championships in Budapest, and in 2006 she became the first U.S. female in almost 10 years to win an A-Level tournament going 5-0 to clench the gold at the World Cup in Great Britain. At 19 she won the bronze medal at the Junior World Championships. She is the first U.S. athlete to win two Junior World Medals. In 2007 she added a silver at the World Judo Championships and a gold at the Pan American Games. The pinnacle of her Judo career was a bronze at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Rousey became the first American to win an Olympic medal in women's Judo since it became an Olympic sport in 1992.
After medaling in the Olympics, Ronda's career hit a dead end. She did some bartending to make ends meet and tried to find a better paying job, but it was tough finding anyone that needed her particular skill set. Throwing people down and putting them in armbars aren't really something you can put on a resume. By chance Ronda caught the Gina Carano vs. Julie Kedzie fight on television and things changed.
She made her mixed martial arts debut as an amateur in 2010. Since then she has never lost a fight, winning the majority in the first round by armbar submission. Ronda took it upon herself to chase after and demand attention so that the UFC could no longer ignore women fighters. UFC President Dana White had publicly stated that women would never be allowed to fight in the UFC, but on February 23, 2013, Ronda did just that. She won the fight against Liz Carmouche in the first round with her signature armbar and became the first UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion.
In 2014, Ronda appeared in her first motion picture - The Expendables 3 (2014). Other projects are Furious 7 (2015) and The Athena Project as well as Entourage (2015).