10 Things Fans Should Know About Shayna Baszler's MMA Career
Shayna Baszler is one of the toughest and most intimidating women in the WWE. Baszler signed to the world’s largest professional wrestling company in 2017 and has had nothing but success since. She is a former NXT women’s champion, WWE Women's Tag Team Champion, and has appeared numerous times at WrestleMania.
Before entering the world of sports entertainment, Baszler was a female pioneer in the world of mixed martial arts. For almost 14 years, Baszler was an elite MMA fighter who paved the way for female fighters today. Baszler’s MMA career was filled with high profile fights and memorable moments that all of her fans should know about.
10 Submission Magician
In 2003, Baszler made her professional MMA debut. In her first bout, it took her just over a minute to submit her opponent with an armbar, which is similar to her teammate Ronda Rousey.
Whether she won or lost, all of her 15 fights ended with a knockout or a submission. Overall, only four of her professional fights went to the judges’ scorecards. Throughout her career, Baszler fought 26 times. Thirteen of her wins came by submission. She earned another victory by submission, but it was technically a technical knockout due to the submission coming from strikes.
9 Beat Roxanne Modaferri
In 2006, Baszler shared the cage with one of the most beloved fighters in UFC history, Roxanne Modafferi.
Baszler took just over one minute to submit Modafferi with a hammerlock in a fight that took place in Japan. Following the loss, Modafferi won her next six fights. Her impressive MMA record eventually led to her being signed by the UFC. Earlier this year, Modafferi retired from the sport after having 12 fights in the world’s biggest MMA promotion.
8 Fought Cris Cyborg on CBS
In 2008, Baszler was one of the first women to fight on broadcast television when she fought on an Elite XC card on CBS.
On this night, not only was she performing in front of the biggest audience of her career, but she also fought her toughest opponent. Baszler fought Cris Cyborg, who is a former Strikeforce and UFC champion. Baszler showed a lot of toughness in her fight, but she was defeated in the second round by technical knockout.
7 Biggest Win
In 2010, Baszler earned the biggest win of her MMA career when she defeated former UFC title challenger Alexis Davis. For 15 years, Davis has been one of the top female fighters in the world. Her resume included impressive wins against notable fighters such as Liz Carmouche, Sarah Kaufmann, Jessica Eye, and former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Amanda Nunes.
While Baszler won the first meeting against Davis, in 2013, Davis earned a submission victory against Baszler that won “Fight of the Night” honors in Invicta FC.
6 Invicta Main Event
For over 10 years, Invicta FC has been the top MMA promotion to only feature female fighters. At their second event, the show was headlined by Baszler fighting Olympic silver medalist Sara McMann.
McMann would go on to win a decision, but Baszler once again showed off her toughness in a fight that earned “Fight of the Night” honors. For McMann, this was one of seven consecutive victories that earned her an opportunity at the UFC title. However, she was unable to defeat then-UFC champion Ronda Rousey.
5 The Ultimate Fighter
Due to the success and popularity of former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey, the UFC decided to promote women’s MMA.
In order to start the division, the UFC included women on the 18th season of The Ultimate Fighter. The coaches of the season were Rousey and former Strikeforce champion Miesha Tate. Two of Rousey’s four horsewomen stablemates competed on the show, and they were Rousey’s first two choices to be on her team, Baszler and Jessamyn Duke. While both Baszler and Duke won their fights to get on the show, they both lost their first fights in the tournament.
4 Fought Julianna Pena
While competing on The Ultimate Fighter, Baszler shared the cage with current UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Julianna Pena.
On the show, Pena submitted Baszler in the second round of their exhibition fight. Pena would go on to win two more fights and won that season of the show. Since defeating Baszler, Pena has won seven fights in the UFC. In her last fight, back in December, Pena submitted longtime champion Amanda Nunes to win the UFC title.
3 UFC Run
Despite not winning The Ultimate Fighter, Baszler did get an opportunity to fight in the biggest MMA promotion in the world. In 2014, Baszler made her UFC debut against then-unbeaten prospect Bethe Correia. Baszler lost the fight by TKO in the second round of the fight. Following her win, Correia challenged Ronda Rousey for her UFC championship.
The fight was made, and Rousey got revenge for her teammate. Rousey knocked out Correia in the first round of their fight.
2 Fought Amanda Nunes
Similar to her teammate Ronda Rousey, Baszler’s last UFC fight was against former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Amanda Nunes.
In her second UFC fight, in 2015, Nunes defeated Baszler by technical knockout due to leg kicks. Nunes’ win over Baszler began one of the most dominant win streaks in UFC history. She won 12 fights in a row. Among those wins was a knockout win against Ronda Rousey. Nunes won the title by submitting Miesha Tate. Her win streak also included notable wins against Sara McMann, Valentina Shevchenko, Raquel Pennington, Holly Holm, and Cris Cyborg.
1 Last Fight
After leaving the UFC following her loss to Nunes, Baszler fought one last time before retiring from MMA.
In 2017, almost two years after her last UFC fight, Baszler fought Reina Miura in a lightweight fight in Japan. Baszler traditionally fought as a bantamweight, meaning her last fight was 20 pounds heavier than the weight class where she was most successful. Baszler lost a decision in a fight that only had two rounds. Just six months after the fight, Baszler would make her WWE debut as part of the Mae Young Classic.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTErKeoqqSowaa%2BjZympmeWlrC1v4ytn6Kml6h6p63NrGSsoJ%2BquaV5yqemsGWjna66usBmmZqrqqGys3nMpphmm5Gnsqa%2Bjg%3D%3D