UFC’s First Asian American Female Fighter: Shayna Baszler

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I had thought I had carefully read through all the big name female MMA fighter athlete bios searching for anyone of Asian heritage, and I started to scour through the up-and-coming ones when I couldn’t find any more. But to my delight, it was brought to my attention by one of our readers that there is in fact a major female MMA fighter of Chinese heritage that I had totally missed–Shayna Baszler.

One of the reasons I was delighted was because I had seen Baszler fight before, and I actually really like her fighting style. For someone who’s made a name for herself on wrestling skills aside from MMA, she’s got some crazy counter punches! In the fight above with that beast of an athlete Cris Cyborg, who is a whole weight class above Baszler’s regular bantamweight opponents, Baszler is the embodiment of tenacious. Further, Baszler is not just another female fighter–she is one of the pioneers. Up there with Gina Carano and Julie Kedzie, Baszler has been fighting since 2001, well before Women’s MMA was even a blip on people’s radars. Add on top of that, she is the first Asian American female UFC fighter and the first Asian American female fighter on TUF, I’m surprised her nickname isn’t “Trailblazer” instead of “Queen of Spades”. Fight on indeed.

Baszler will be fighting in UFC 176 in Staples Center, Los Angeles, California on August 2nd!