A lot of people watch MMA contests, but did you know that a many of the female fighters are also one of the sexiest girls you can see on TV? The reason for this is due to the vigorous fitness and training regimen MMA fighters have to undergo, which means their bodies are always in great shape. This article is going to examine 25 of the sexiest female MMA fighters - ranging from the US to Russia, Brazil and beyond.
Paige VanZant (full name Paige Michelle VanZant), is a US-based mixed martial artist, and a formal model. She is classified as a flyweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (the "flyweight" class is defined as a female under 125 pounds of 57 kg). Aside from her success as an MMA fighter, she has also appeared in the television series "Dancing with the Stars and Chopped."
Her first piece of advice is to seek out beautiful scenery (i.e., go outdoors) if you find working out at the gym to be a boring, tedious task. Mixing things up can help you from falling off the bandwagon, according to Paige. "To stay fit and lose weight you have to make sure you eat enough food, says VanZant. If you don't get enough calories, that can easily place your body into starvation mode, which is going to have the opposite effect.
Gina Carano is 34 years old (meaning she is 10 years older than the previously featured MMA fighter - Paige VanZant), but that didn't stop Gina from having not only a successful mixed martial arts career, but she has also worked as a model and as an actor. She has appeared in movies such as Haywire, Fast & Furious 6, Deadpool, and Ring Girls. She originally started her career in Texas, USA.
Gina has always embraced the more strenuous workouts, such as high-intensity cardio, weight lifting, and martial arts training. She recently switched her routine to a lighter and more holistic workout, part of which is yoga. She loves Bikram yoga most of all since she feels refreshed after every training session. For dieting, she recommends Vitamin D supplements if you are not getting enough sun (which is commonplace for a lot of people during the winter months).
Miesha Tate is 30-years old and is a professional mixed martial artist. Unlike the previous two girls in today's list, her career is specifically tied to MMA fights and championships, and she hasn't participated in other modeling and acting activities. Her birthplace is Tacoma, Washington, United States of America, and she is known for her participation in the Fighters Only Mixed Martial Arts Awards IV, The Ultimate Fighter, Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey
For training, first of all, Miesha recommends that you learn a martial art. "You won't just get sculpted; you'll pick up valuable self-defense skills as well," says Tate. For energy during her workouts, Tate takes a spoonful of coconut oil before her morning workout, which helps her have all the energy and stamina needed for her training session. Her favorite exercise is the push-kick, which is a workout that simulates striking an opponent in one fluid motion.
Michelle Waterson is 31-years old, and she is originally from the small town of Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States of America. Aside from her career as a martial artist, Michelle is an actor, whose career has spanned a lot of different movie genres, including a few Hollywood blockbusters. The most popular movie she has participated it is Thor, while some of her other movies are The Lone Ranger, Transcendence, and MacGruber.
For her diet, Michelle says that she tried to always stay well hydrated and eat clean, unprocessed food. "I stay very hydrated and eat very clean. I try to stay away from processed, fried foods. Towards the end of my camp I stick to leaner meats and lots of green veggies," says Michelle. She also says that you should take your workout progress day by day, meaning try not to overwork yourself by trying to lift too much at the beginning.
Anastasia Yankova is a Russian mixed martial artist, who is currently participating in the flyweight division in Bellator MMA. She was originally born in Moscow, Russia, on March 1, 1991), and she started training for her future career in MMA, by learning karate from the age of 6 to 14. She took a few years off afterward to focus on school, after which she got into Muay Thai, which helped her compete in kickboxing tournaments.
Yankova is a firm believer in giving everything you've got in every training session. She told reporters during a press conference that "I'm in the middle of training camp and all I feel is soreness in my muscles and pains after sparring." Other than that, she tries to keep a clean diet, sticks to eating her vegetables and fruit, and supplements her high-intensity cardio workouts with weight lifting sessions.
Jordan McDonald is a 36-years old mixed martial artist, born in the town of Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, United States. She is currently fighting out of Las Vegas, Nevada, and she is classified as an "atomweight," which is an even lighter class than the "flyweight" fighters. That puts her current weight at 110 pounds (or about 49.9 kilograms), which is a very low amount considering her 5'4" height.
Jordan has always been hyperactive, which is something she brings to her training - she always tries to exert the maximum amount of effort during her cardio and weight lifting sessions. Apart from weight lifting and cardio, Jordan is also an avid gymnastics fan, which has aided her in building a lot of upper and lower body agility, which has definitely helped during her fights.
Felice Herrig is 31-years old and is from Buffalo Grove, Illinois, United States of America. She is currently fighting on "The Ultimate Fighter" show, which is a reality television series and an MMA competition at the same time. Apart from MMA, Felice is also skilled in Muay Thai, which is what she practiced (together with kickboxing) before starting her MMA career.
For dieting, Felice has had a lot of problems in the past, which is why she recommends that you don't go too low on the calories, as that might push your mind and body towards depression. She recommends that you watch out on the macro-nutrient content of the food you consume so that you have a proper carb to fat and protein ratio in all of your meals.
Lena Ovchynnikova (full name Oléna "Lena" Serhíyivna Ovchýnnikova), is a Ukrainian kickboxer and mixed martial artist, born on April 22, 1987, meaning she is 30-years old. She participates in the featherweight category in kickboxing, and in the flyweight category in MMA (featherweight and flyweight are the same categories, they just carry a different naming convention depending on the competition).
Lena is big on weight lifting and mass gains, which is why she favors full-body compound exercises, such as the all-time favorites: bench press, deadlifts, squats and military press. These are all exercises that you have to do if you want to gain mass and increase your upper and lower body strength - which was essential for Lena in order to be able to compete in the MMA championships.
Kyra Gracie is 30-years old, and in comparison to the other female fighters in today's list, she's not from the US - she is from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's second most populous city. She was born on 1985-05-29, which makes her 32 years old. Her height and weight statistics are the following: she is 5'7" (that's 170cm) tall, and she weighs 130 pounds, which amounts to about 58kg.
Kyra uses a diet that shares the same name as her last name - the "Gracie diet," which she follows in order to have the form of her life. According to the label, "The "Gracie Diet" is a method of eating developed during 65 years of research and first-hand use by Grand Master Carlos Gracie." The diet has a lot of common-sense advice, such as avoiding processed food and trying not to eat as many fried foods.
Jordan Nicole Gaza is a 24-year old mixed martial artist, born in the United States. She is currently fighting out of Corpus Christi, Texas, and carries a 1-win streak. She is 5'2" (or 157cm) tall and weighs 115 pounds, which is 52kg. That places her in the flyweight category, although a few more pounds and she could end up in the lower atomclass weight category.
While Jordan loves to train and exercise, she also has to watch out for her pounds due to the rigorous weight-ins before the fights. She recommends a 20-minute sauna session if you are looking for a fast way to drop a few pounds, although a long-term caloric deficit is the only way to go if you are looking for a complete and more stable type of weight loss.
Ronda Rousey is arguably one of the most famous female fighters on today's list - but she is also one of the sexiest fighters as well. Ronda is 30-years old and comes from California, United States of America. She works as a professional mixed martial artist and has also worked as an actor in a few movies. Her movie and TV credits include the Entourage, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2016 Revealed, and The Expendables 3.
Ronda has to follow a rigorous diet in order to remain in her prime fighting shape. She doesn't care for the food's taste, as long as it makes her stomach feel full. When she drinks a Starbucks coffee, she only takes a few sips out of the cup before throwing it out, so that she doesn't consume too many carbs. For training, she tries to do a lot of free weight and full-body compound exercises.
Rachael Cummins is a "bantamweight" MMA fighter, from the United States of America. She is 5'9" (or 175cm), which places her as one of the taller female MMA fighters. She weighs 135 lbs (or 61 kg), which, considering her training and amount of muscle mass, means that she has an extremely low body fat percentage. Her MMA fighting record is 3-2-0 (win-loss-draw).
For training, Racheal prefers to keep it to the gym, where she tries to gain as much muscle mass as possible. For adding mass, compound exercises (such as the bench press, military press, squat, and deadlift), need to be combined with a high amount of carb and protein intake. Most fighters need at least 1 gram of protein per pound of body mass in order to gain muscle.
Amber Stautzenberger is a 30-year (born on 1987-09-02) old MMA fighter from the small town of Farmers Branch, Texas, United States of America. She is 5'6" tall (that is 167cm), and she weighs 116 pounds, which amounts to around 52 kilograms. Her weight puts her in the strawweight MMA-fighting category. She has a great fighting record of 6-4-0 (win-draw-lose).
Amber tries to keep herself in top fighting form with a variety of diet and workout tricks and optimization. For dieting, she tries to eat a clean diet without any processed food, and she also seems to be keeping fried foods to a minimum. Consuming fried food, and especially food fried with vegetable oils is one the worst things you can do to your body's health.
Kristi Lopez is a 34-year (born on 1983-02-04) old mixed martial artist based in the US. She is originally from Los Angeles, California, and has a pretty decent fighting record of 2-0-1 (that's for wins, draws, and losses). She is 5'5" (that is about 165 cm) and weighs 125 pounds, which amounts to 56.7 in kilograms. That places her firmly in the flyweight category of fighters.
Kristi tries to workout at least 3 to 5 times per week, depending on her schedule. She tries to balance cardio-based workouts with strength-based training, so that she adds muscle and strength, while also keeping off any unwanted fat gains. For diet, she tries to eat in a balanced way, which includes eating a lot of fruit, vegetables, and protein. For this diet, you can use both plant and animal-based sources of protein.
Laura Sanko is also 34-years old (just like the previously featured MMA fighter) and was born on 1982-12-07. She is originally from Kansas City, Missouri, United States of America. Her height is 5'5" (that is 165cm for our international readers), and she weighs 106 pounds, or 48 kg, which is slightly less than the average of the fighters listed in this article.
Given her weight and low amount of body fat, Laura is obviously eating a clean diet, where she tries to eat an optimal amount of protein, carbs and fat, while also trying not to eat a lot of the fattening, simple carbs (such as sugar, bread, pasta and other similar food). For workouts, she seems to favor both free weight workouts and full body compound exercises.
Cheyanne Vlismas is one of the younger fighters to be featured on today's list. She is just 22-years old (born in 1995-06-25), in the city of Clearwater, Florida, United States of America. She is a part of the MMA strawweight category, due to her 115-pound weight (that's 52kg for our international readers). Her height sits at 5'4", which translates to 162cm, which is about the average female height in the US.
Since Cheyanne has to keep a low weight and high amount of mass for her MMA fights, she is obviously going to favor a similar type of diet and exercise regimen like the other girls. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is her obvious weapon of choice, combined with eating a lot of plant-based and animal-based sources of fat and protein.
Jenae Noonan is a US-based mixed martial artist, although apart from her sexy pictures, not much more information is available about her (regarding her date of birth or city of origin). Only the most essential information is available about for her, which are her weight and height. She stands 5'7" (that's 170cm) tall and weighs 116 pounds, which amounts to 52kg.
Jenae's workout seems to be similar to the other girls on the list. She has to keep a clean diet, which means she tries to keep processed, fried and fast food to a minimum. The same goes for simple carbs such as sugar, bread, and pasta, which have no place in an MMA fighter's diet. For workouts, she prefers full body and free weight exercises.
Rachel Wray is another US-based mixed martial artist. She is originally from Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States of America. Her date of birth is not available on the publicly available MMA statistic pages, but her weight and height information is available. Rachel is 5'5" (which translates to 165cm) and she weighs 135 pounds, which amounts to about 62kg.
Rachel originally started with gymnastics, which formed the basis for her future workouts. She says, "Gymnastics is at the root of everything I do, and was the first sport I did competitively, I competed for six years until I found dance." After her success with gymnastics, she focused on improving her nutrition, since she wanted to keep any excess fat by doing a lot of cardio sessions every week.
Sarah McLeod is another US-based mixed martial artist. She is originally from Omaha, Nebraska, United States of America.According to publicly available information, she was born on 1987-12-21, meaning she is 29-years old. Sarah is 5'7" (or 170cm) tall, and she weighs 115 pounds, which amounts to 52kg, placing her in the strawweight category.
Given her awesome physique, it is obvious that Sarah does a lot of strength training, which includes lifting heavy weights and doing a lot of full-body compound exercises. The best compound exercises you can do to get in shape are the bench press, squat, deadlift, rows and military press. A lot of MMA fighters like Sarah recommend that you progressively increase the loads on the weights you lift at the gym.
Erin is one of the older female fighters listed in today's article. She was born on 1977-06-13, which makes her 40 years old. She keeps in excellent shape though, which means she still wins a lot of fights (much more often than she losses). Her stats place her as 5'10 (or 177cm) tall, which is above average. Her weight is 161 pounds, or 73 kg, which is also on the heavy side of things.
Given Erin's awesome statistics (she is one of the tallest and heaviest fighters in the list), she must be consuming a lot of animal-based proteins, such as whey protein, in order to get her weight to the level it's at. Since she is also not carrying a lot of fat, that means that she incorporates a lot of high-intensity interval training types of cardio into her workouts.
In comparison to most of the other fighters in this story, Alexandra is not originally from the US - she is in fact from Moscow, the capital of Russia. She was born on 1990-07-14, which makes her 27 years old. She is also one of the shortest of the featured fighters, standing at a minuscule 5'2" (that's 157cm) and weighing at 115 pounds (or 52kg). Her MMA category is strawweight.
Alexandra says that the psychological aspect is the most important thing behind all dieting and workout preparations. She said in an interview, "There were two particular aspects. First is the preparation. We had done great work with the coach in order to acquire a necessary form for that battle. I dedicated almost three months solely to this. The second thing was psychological."
Melania Lacroix was born on 1982-11-19, which makes her 34 years old. She is originally from Hawthorne, California, United States of America, and she has the following height and weight stats: she is 5'7" (that's about 170cm) tall, and she weighs 135 pounds, which amounts to 61kg.
Since Melanie is at a heavier weight category than the other girls, it can be concluded that she must be incorporating a lot of mass building exercises. To achieve this mass building, she has to consume a lot of protein, which most athletes try to target at around 1 gram per pound of body weight. The best type of protein for these types of activities is whey protein.
Andrea Lee is an American mixed martial artist. She was born in Atlanta, Texas, United States of America, on 1989-02-11, which makes her 28 years old. She is firmly in the flyweight MMA category, due to her weight of just 126 pounds, which amounts to about 57kg. Her height is 5'7" (or 170cm), which is about average for fighters of her size.
Due to her flyweight MMA category, Andrea cannot consume a lot of calories on a daily basis. She has to watch her carb intake in order to stay in her category weight limit. The best way to limit her weight is by limiting the consumption of simple, high glycemic carbs, such as sugar, wheat, and pasta. All other proteins and fat food sources are okay for Andrea's diet.
Kaitlin Young is a US-based mixed martial artist. She was born on 1985-09-15, which makes her 32 years old - about the average of the featured fighters. She was born in Circle Pines, Minnesota, United States of America. Her height and weight stats are the following: she stands 5'9" (or 175cm tall), which is above average for her bantamweight category, and she weighs 136 pounds (or 62kg).
Kaitlin tries to eat a clean diet, especially before weigh-ins so she strikes the proper weight category. "When I'm in camp, I cut out all processed foods.That means anything on the label or ingredients list that I can't pronounce, don't know what it is, or know it's bad, I won't eat. Xyience Energy drinks are the exception. I love them and they keep me awake for my very busy schedule. I am finding out that I can't really handle processed food outside of fight camps either now," says Kaitlin
Angelica Chavez is another US-based mixed martial artist. She was born on 1987-07-20, making her 30 years old. She is originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States of America, and due to her stats, she is a part of the atomweight MMA category. She is only 5'1 (or 154 cm tall) and she weighs 105 pounds, which amounts to about 47 kilograms.
Angelica tries to keep a clean and optimal diet, due to her low height, which means she can't afford to eat a lot of calories during the day. She keeps all of the simple carbs out of her food list (meaning bread, sugar, and pasta) and tries to incorporate a lot of free weight and full body compound exercises, with a few isolation exercises for good measure.
