This is the third part to our WMMA run down of Invicta Fighting Championship’s 15 new signees. Today we’ll be taking a look at the Atomweight and Flyweight divisions. For the benefit of those that have stumbled across this article, we decided to talk about the Strawweight signings yesterday – as this was the division that was hit hard by the UFC 20 announcment.
The 15 New Invicta Signees – Pt.2
Yesterday you might have seen our overall introduction to the fifteen new Invicta Fighting Championship signees. For the next three days we will be taking a look at each of these Women’s Mixed Martial Artists, and giving you our take on them. As we mentioned in the last article, we have decided to the split this into four articles because of the potential length of the subject.
The 15 New Invicta Signees – Pt.1
On Valentine’s Day last week, Invicta Fighting Championships were sharing the love within the Women’s Mixed Martial Arts community by announcing fifteen exciting new signings from around the globe! Female fighters from eight countries to be exact: United States, Brazil, New Zealand, Netherlands, Poland, Canada, Belgium and Mexico.
Hatice Ozyurt “Just keep on going, like I did”
Hatice Ozyurt, aka The Turkish Delight, is a Muay Thai World Champion from the Netherlands. At just 26 she can be considered a prolific female fighter – Starting at age 13, she has over 100 fights under her belt and a jaw dropping record of 71 wins, 7 losses and 3 draws!
Annabelle Gely “I was up for the challenge”
Originally from France, Annabelle Gely is a Muay Thai fighter living in London, England. She is a European Champion and has a record of 12 wins, 1 loss and 1 draw. We decided to catch up with her in the run up to her world title fight against Hatice Ozyurt on February 22nd at Battle Under the Tower in Holland.
Alexis Rufus (Pt.2) “I always go in to win”
You are set to fight fellow Brit Christi Brereton on February 22nd in Telford, UK for the UKMF British Title at 55kg. What can you tell us about Christi? “Christi and I were due to fight a few years ago when she was 17. It was on a UKMF show and I think for a title. The fight was pulled the day before the weigh in. It was massively frustrating for both of us
Alexis Rufus (Pt.1) “I lacked self-belief”
Alexis Rufus is an experienced Muay Thai fighter from London, England – fighting out of Stars Gym. She is also two times European Champion, and five times World Champion. As 2014 begins, it makes her ninth year as a female fighter with a record of 28-6-0 – and we are delighted to bring you this interview.
Christi Brereton “I love to fight!”
Christi Brereton is a female Muay Thai fighter from Exeter, UK. She fights out of Gym Chaos in Okehampton, UK and at 21 years old she is already a WPMF World Champion, a title that she impressively won at the age of 14! Christi now has a professional record of 10-3-1 and is actively looking at raising her profile and making more of an impression on the world stage.
Caley Reece “We will put on a great show”
Caley Reece is well respected and extremely experienced female fighter from Western Australia. Although known for an impressive Muay Thai career (48-5-0), Caley dabbles in Grappling and holds a Brown Belt in Freestyle Karate. A lot has been going on with Caley recently, so we jumped on her to grab this interview for you.
FusBoxe Baby Face
We decided to pay Maureen Riordon a visit whilst passing through Denver, Colorado last year. We caught up with her at FusBoxe MMA and Fitness, and pestered her to allow us to capture her training regime. She was being put through her paces by partner and coach Michael Sullivan. They were very welcoming and we’d recommend FusBoxe to anyone in the area wanting to keep fit.
Monthly Most Viewed – January 2014
Have you ever wondered who the most viewed athletes on our website are? Well we certainly did, we looked into it and were very surprised! The results got us thinking, and we have decided to do an article each month showing the top ten most viewed female fighter profiles on the Awakening register. So, enough talk? Here’s January’s top ten list of the most viewed Awakening profiles.
Lucy Payne “This will be my first defence”
Hi everyone, I’m Ashley Mann from Awakening, I’m here with Awakening World Champion Lucy Payne. Hi Lucy, thanks for taking the time to chat to us today. “You’re welcome”. I know a lot of people saw you fight last in August at Lion Fight, could you tell us a bit about how your fight was against Tiffany Van Soest?
Sheree Halliday – Autumn Red
Back in November, we asked our beloved photographer Kelly Smith if she would go out into the field with Sheree Halliday and shoot some natural, non Muay Thai photographs for us. Kelly took it literally and took Sheree to… wait for it… a field!
Natasha Sky “I can’t even spell!”
Natasha Sky is a Muay Thai fighter from Australia, and over the last twelve months has been spending more and more of her free time working on her blog, Muay Tash, in which she predominantly interviews female Muay Thai fighters from around the world. It is for this blog that Natasha was voted Journalist of the Year in the Awakening Female Muay Thai 2013 Awards
WMMA 2013 Awards
We’d like to thank everyone who took part in the nomination and voting process for the first annual Awakening WMMA Awards. The response was incredible, many more people than we imagined got involved and we believe that all of the sharing that went on did wonders for spreading the word about WMMA. Congratulations to all of the winners, as nominated and voted by the community.
Rosy Hayward “Credibility to my obsession”
For those that don’t know the name, Rosy is an ex-fighter who is essentially a female fight fan with a mission. She runs the very successful global Female Muay Thai on Facebook Group, for which was voted Media Resource of the Year in the Awakening Female Muay Thai 2013 Awards. The community is made up of fighters, coaches, fans and promoters from around the world
Lauren Huxley “I am very grateful”
Hi Lauren, and congratulations on winning the public vote for Newcomer of the Year in the Awakening Female Muay Thai 2013 Awards! “Hi guys, thank you.. I’m honoured!” We know that as a newcomer it’s sometimes hard to find your place or get seen amongst the hundreds of fighters that start their careers each year.
Tiffany Van Soest “Steel sharpens steel”
Hi Tiff, congratulations on your result in the Awakening Female Muay Thai 2013 Awards! Thanks for taking the time out to answer a few questions for our growing community and indeed the entire female fight community. We know for a fact that you are universally loved, especially within the US. You certainly carry a wonderful persona, and that leads us to our first question…
Iman Barlow “I couldn’t stop kicking”
Hi Iman, first of all let us congratulate you on an extremely successful result in the Awakening Female Muay Thai 2013 Awards! If any readers aren’t aware of what you won I’ll recap now: Fighter of the Year, Inspirational Fighter of the Year and Fight of the Year. We’ll go through each of the awards and get your thoughts in a moment.
Add Yourself to our Athlete Register
We’re proud to boast that the Awakening female athlete register is the largest and most comprehensive in the world, for this reason alone you really should be on it. The “Add Yourself” feature on our old website was clunky and we found that most users struggled to input their data.
Spotlight: Maureen Riordon
Our last spotlight of the year brings you an athlete that you’ll definitely want to keep an eye out for in 2014! Maureen Riordon is a true multi-disciplinary martial artist, having competed in five different combat sports to date! Even more impressive than her diverse skill set is her fierce drive to inspire others to pursue their own goals, and to never give up fighting to make them happen.
Aleksandra Albu, UFC Mystery Girl
Who is this mystery girl that the UFC have signed? We’ve found out for you. We thought it was worth doing some digging, and contacting a few of our sources to find out exactly who the enigmatic female fighter Aleksandra Albu is. We know that the UFC claim to not sign unproven fighters, and rightly so.