“A sport of unarmed combat derived from jiu-jitsu and intended to train the body and mind. It involves using holds and leverage to unbalance the opponent.”
As its name describes, Mixed Martial Arts is the melting pot of all other combat sports. More often than not, everyone starts with a specific base and background before they start integrating the rest of the arts into their game. Over the years, history has pointed in the directions of various grappling traditions as more successful than others.
Whether it be the wide spectrum of wrestling styles to the iconic Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, another form of grappling has started to make its presence felt to a greater effect as of late.
Female competitors in MMA really got their spotlight during the decade of the 2010s as the charge was led by Olympic bronze medalist judoka Ronda Rousey.
With each passing fight, Rousey utilized her talents to collect arms and build an unforgettable winning streak that resulted in multiple world titles. As a judo practitioner in her weight class of bantamweight, there were really no others like her and it showed in the Octagon.
Since Rousey has come and gone, we’ve seen more judokas make their way into the rings and cages around the world. Most notably would be the PFL lightweight and two-time Olympic gold medalist Kayla Harrison. But then there’s also Japan’s Kana Watanabe, who just like her predecessors has found herself hip tossing her opponents left and right to amass a flawless MMA record.
“I started judo as a family sport through a family friend,” Watanabe shared with The Scrap, “My dad, brother, and myself started for self-defense. I was competing in a corporate judo team but I was cut from the team due to my age which gave me a good reason to try MMA, which I was interested in for quite a while.”
Continued: Kana Watanabe: Finding new ways to repeat history
