The fact that there is a heavyweight women's division in MMA is not known to everyone. But if you ask a search engine what it is, any system will give you, first of all, information about Gabi Garcia - the most prominent representative of this sport in the heavyweight division.
The physical characteristics that the Brazilian athlete possesses cannot fail to impress. With a height of 188 cm, Gabrielle Lemos Garcia (that is her full name) weighs on average 105 kg.
The woman is 32 years old, and she has devoted most of her life to martial arts and, in particular, Brazilian jiu-jitsu. In this sport, Gabi is a nine-time world champion, and in addition, she has 5 victories in MMA and not a single defeat.
Garcia is loved all over the world, as she manages to combine the steely character of a fighter and a kind female heart. But the athlete is especially popular in Japan, where her sporting successes are treated with the same reverence as the victories of her compatriots.
This is probably why Gabi chose the Japanese organization Rizin, in whose promotion she always performs.
For the first time in MMA, a female fighter fought on December 31, 2015 and won. In the same tournament he won confident victory over the Indian Jaideep Singh Fedor Emelianenko.
Fedor Emelianenko (height - 183 cm) and Gabi Garcia (height - 188 cm) Despite the fact that at the beginning of his career, “armchair experts” criticized Garcia’s weak striking technique, no one can resist her weight and pressure. By the way, one curious case is connected with the weight of the athlete, because of which one of the woman’s fights did not take place.
On December 31, 2017, a fight was supposed to take place with 53-year-old Shinobu Kandori. Gabi's opponent came to the weigh-in with 73.75 kg, and Garcia, who was supposed to be within the 95 kg limit, showed 107.7 kg on the scales. Such a significant difference in weight was a shock to everyone and the organizers announced the cancellation of the fight.
The same weighing
Gabi herself talks about this incident with a laugh:
“I was in one room and she (Kandori) was in another. I saw her only during the weigh-in and couldn’t understand how this could happen? But I don’t choose my own opponents. I am often criticized and reproached for the fact that all my competitors are lighter than me. This is not a question for me, but for Rizin, who select them for me. I can only hope that sooner or later there will be heavier girls with whom it will be interesting to compete.”
And here’s how the weigh-in and meeting between Gabi Garcia (106.6 kg) and Russian Veronica Futina (86.6 kg) went. The fight took place in May 2018 as part of the Road FC 47 show in China and ended in victory for the Brazilian (fifth in a row).
Gabi Garcia and Barbara Nepomuceno
On December 31st in Tokyo there will be new fight Rizin, in which Gabi Garcia will fight with her fellow Brazilian, Barbara Nepomuceno. Fans of the biggest female fighter are looking forward to this fight and are confident that it will end with Gabi's 6th victory.
As a rule, men are considered incredibly strong, and women are considered to be the weaker sex. But is this so?
10. Gabriella Garcia (Gabi Garcia)
Famous for her performances in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, female fighter from Brazil Gabi Garcia impresses with her size. Now, with a height of 187 cm, she weighs 93 kg, although previously her weight was as much as 112 kg. Garcia has won all of her MMA fights, and she previously won all the most important Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournaments. Gabriella's career is gaining great momentum and I think we will hear about her more than once.
9. Erica Montoya
Erica Montoya is the first woman to play as computer game on the topic of mixed martial arts. She has 6 wins and two losses in MMA. She is one of the youngest girls to train professionally in martial arts - her career began at age 17 and she almost became the first woman to compete in the UFC. She has also achieved success in jiu-jitsu and a form of wrestling.
8. Felice Nicole Herrig
Felice Nicole Herrig or Lil Bulldog won in 13 professional fights MMA and has 23 victories in kickboxing. She became US champion Thai boxing, as well as a two-time kickboxing champion. In addition to championship titles, Felis has great figure. She periodically arranges nude photo shoots for magazines and her subscribers.
7. Gina Joy Carano
Gina Joy Carano is one of the most recognizable women in mixed martial arts. Generally recognized as the “Female Face of MMA”, he refuses to acknowledge this title. Gina appeared in the computer game Command&Conquer: RedAlert 3, where she starred in photo shoots and videos as the spectacular Soviet special forces soldier and sniper Natasha Volkova. She won 7 fights and was defeated in only one. For losing the fight, Carano received $100 thousand, which was the highest fee for women in MMA in 2010. Gina also took part in American Gladiators and starred in such famous films as Knockout, Fast and Furious 6 and Deadpool.
6. Zoila Gurgel
Zoila Gurgel is the true and only champion according to the Bellator organization. She has 13 wins and 5 losses. The choice of this sport was not accidental. Zoila’s father is a third dan black belt in TaeKwonDo, and her sister is an MMA fighter. Gurjel's husband is a prominent figure in mixed martial arts oh and participated in the popular television reality show " Greatest Fighter"(UltimateFighter).
5. Miesha Tate
Miesha Tate – Former UFC champion and former Strikeforce women's bantamweight champion. She is on the list of the most best fighters regardless of weight category. Misha has won 18 MMA fights and is also silver medalist grappling world. She was featured in a documentary about mixed martial arts, FightLife.
4. Sarah Kaufman
During Sarah Kaufman's career, her hand was raised in victory an impressive 18 times, and in only 4 fights she was counted defeated. She was the first champion of the “Hardcore Championship” among women in the 56-61 kg weight category, and then added track record champion title in the Strikeforce tournament in the same weight category.
3. Marloes Coenen
Marlo Coenen participated in more fights compared to other women on this list, and during her professional career she won 23 victories and 8 defeats. After a 17-year career, Marlo announced her retirement from MMA in 2017.
2. Ronda Rousey
Ronda Rousey is a champion in both amateur and professional MMA. On at the moment She was credited with winning 12 of 14 matches using the armbar technique. She became the Strikeforce women's champion, defended the title and became the first woman to officially sign a contract with the UFC. She is also a winner Olympic Games in judo, and also won gold medals in the Pan American Judo Championships. Rousey is considered the most successful fighter in the history of MMA, she has the most dominant performances, worldwide fame and multi-million dollar contracts. Ronda attracted such public attention because she spent only 64 seconds on 3 consecutive title defenses.
1. Cristiane Santos
Christian Santos or Cris Cyborg holds the record for the most successful women's championship defense in MMA history. Even though her title was taken away from her after a doping scandal, her dominance in the sport was unimaginable. She has only suffered one defeat in her 19-fight career, and if she manages to return to the sport, her impact on women's championships in mixed martial arts will be significant. Christian also has only one defeat each in kickboxing and grappling tournaments. She is the owner of two gold medals in jiu-jitsu and one bronze medal in wrestling.
Anna Malyukova - Gabi Garcia. A fight that's hard to believe
Russian Anna Malyukova has been practicing hand-to-hand combat for four years and is going to Japan to fight a much heavier opponent - 100-kilogram world grappling champion Gabi Garcia.
Gabi Garcia is 30 years old. She trained in grappling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, weighed about 112 kg and won almost everywhere she competed. Grappling is considered one of the foundations of mixed martial arts - this is a fight where almost everything is possible, except strikes and traumatic painful techniques. Gabi’s transition to MMA was predictable given such a background, but the girl lost a lot of weight before that, deciding to compete in the 93 kg (light heavyweight category).
Gabi Garcia had her first fight on the same show as Fedor Emelianenko, on December 31, 2015 in Japan. She won, but looked strange for so many photographs telling about the Brazilian’s training. In these photos famous fighters, heavy barbells and bulging muscles. In the video from the fight, the same Gabi Garcia hits with a sweeping blow, falls and breathes heavily after just two minutes of performance.
The person who will finally test Gabi’s Instagram for truthfulness will be Russian Anna Malyukova. On April 17, the girls will fight in Japan. And we again decided to look at the photographs and again we were a little scared. But now not for Gabi’s muscles, but for her rival. But then the dial tone disappeared and Anna said: “I’m ready, we’ll work in a standing position.”
We will try to work with her in a stand-up position, we will fight, and I will give my 100 percent,” Anna assures, answering questions from the site. - And as for her photo, I also work with iron, I also have serious people on my team, my coach is the world champion in Thai boxing, Alexey Stoyan.
Alexey adds: “We also look at what Gabi Garcia posts on social networks. Anya does identical CrossFit routines that we prescribe for her, we just don’t have the goal of posting everything on Instagram. And so - look last Stand Garcia: outwardly she looked intimidating, but in reality it was not the most impressive fight.”
“I think,” Anna enters into the conversation, “that Leid Tapa (Sein Drown is the real name of her opponent - website) could have won, because she was both more technical and easier. Gabi was hit by an accidental blow and crushed physical strength. I think we will succeed.
I have been training for four years and have been performing for the last two. I started working out purely by chance, I came to the section hand-to-hand combat, decided to support physical fitness, then it became interesting to try to perform. My first workout - I remember that after it I couldn’t get up, I thought I’d never return to this gym again, my body was so exhausted that it was hard to get up and go to the shower, my arms and legs didn’t obey. And then I overcame myself and moved on. I started in a section in Penza, and now I continue in Belgorod in the Gladiator club.
In my first training sessions, the hardest thing for me was hitting a person in the face. It's hard. First you had to miss it, so that you could hit it yourself. I managed to overcome it. Now this problem no longer exists, especially since I work as number one more often.
- Was it that you knocked out a person?
I didn’t knock people down or knock them out; I won by technical knockout after a series of blows and finishing moves.
After April 17, it will become clear what my prospects are in MMA, what to do next. In general, I am a design engineer by profession, I work, I just took a vacation during training and preparation for battle to get ready. And so I work with drawings, I develop electrical equipment: phones, tablets, radio stations.
- Do your hands shake when working with drawings?
Yes, it’s normal, I recover, get massages, go to the bathhouse, especially since I don’t draw with a pencil, most of my work is done at the computer.
I found out about Gabi when I watched the Rizin tournament on December 31st. I hadn't heard much before this. And now Mr. Sakakibara (president of the Rizin organization, where Fedor Emelianenko resumed his career after a break of 3.5 years.. He called and said that they wanted a female fighter from Russia to be able to compete in their tournament. We met in February, but until the last week of Nobuyuki I didn’t say for sure whether I would participate in the tournament or not. Around February, we understood that this fight would happen, and only a week ago we confirmed that it would definitely happen.
- What were the first competitions like?
The first competition is the Russian MMA Championship. We had the only women's fight, we were immediately sent into the cage, the audience roared, the opponent was from the Moscow region, they were rooting for her, but I won.
In Russia it is difficult to look for heavyweight rivals. Last October I went to the World Pankration Championships, where it was easier, there were also girls who competed in heavy weights. In general, my usual weight is 85-92 kg, although I could try to compete in a lighter category and get there.
Now I have two workouts a day. In the morning, crossfit, working with weights: rowing, sledgehammer, jumping, pushing sleds, and in the evening, sparring, wrestling. I train with freestyle wrestlers, so I can offer her something on the ground, and if you watch her last fight, you can’t say that she showed something supernatural there.
Now we are training in Belgorod, it would be great to hold a training camp with Fedor’s team in Stary Oskol - I would be very happy if they offered to invite me to train with their team.
“Gabi Garcia and I will not compete in powerlifting, we understand that she is well-versed in pharmaceuticals, but let’s remember the fight between Cain Velasquez and Brock Lesnar. I think Lesnar squatted and pulled all 300 kg, and Velasquez was noticeably less, but look what happened in the fight. So we do, we don’t want to compete with her in strength, we want to win through technique and cunning,” adds Anna’s coach and it’s hard to argue with him.
My loved ones support me and worry about me. My mother blessed me, although she doesn’t watch my fights, she just finds out about the results, but now, I think, with God’s help, we will win.
- What is this menacing photo with a weapon?
We played airsoft, I myself did not participate, but was a staff general, I almost didn’t go into battle, but I coped with my duties normally. I really like it active recreation, in winter I go snowboarding, in summer it is replaced by rock climbing, hiking: guitar, fire, songs.
We went to the Surskoye Reservoir near Penza, watched the sunrise, fed mosquitoes, it was great.
Text: Vadim Tikhomirov
Photo: vk.com/Anna Malyukova, instagram.com/gabigarciaoficial
