Katja Kankaanpää

Katja Kankaanpää
Born Katja Kalliokoski
June 30, 1981
Seinäjoki, Southern Ostrobothnia, Finland
Other names Killer Bunny
Residence Seinäjoki, Southern Ostrobothnia, Finland
Nationality Finnish
Height 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)
Weight 115 lb (52 kg; 8 st 3 lb)
Division Strawweight
Style Karate, BJJ, Submission wrestling
Fighting out of Seinajoki, Southern Ostrobothnia, Finland
Team MMA Seinajoki / Team Botnia Punishment
Trainer Marcelo Giudici, Jarkko Latomäki
Rank Purple belt in BJJ
Years active 2010-present
Mixed martial arts record
Total 13
Wins 10
By knockout 1
By submission 4
By decision 5
Losses 2
By submission 1
By decision 1
Draws 1
Other information
Website
Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog

Katja Kankaanpää (Finnish: [ˈkɑtjɑ ˈkɑŋkɑːnpæː], born June 30, 1981) is a Finnish mixed martial artist who competes in the strawweight division. She is currently signed with Invicta FC.[1] Kankaanpää started martial arts training at her teens when she was 15 years old with Goju-ryu karate. Later she had interest about combat sports by training submission wrestling and other combat arts. Katja leads the Nordic (all Skandinavia) strawweight rankings and Finnish MMA rankings in the categories Pound for Pound and women, all weight classes.[2] [3] On January 2, 2015 she was awarded 'Nordic Female Fighter of the Year'.[4] The same month, Finnish sports journalists honored her as 'Sportswoman of 2014', category MMA.[5] In addition to her career in MMA, the BJJ purple belt competes in submission wrestling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournaments.[6]

Mixed martial arts career

Her debut fight against Paulina Suska at Oulu Fight 2, was won by unanimous decision. In her next three fights versus Dalia Grakulskyte, Niina Aaltonen and Ekaterina Tarnavskaja Kankaanpää was able to achieve an untimely victory by submission or TKO. The next five fights went the whole distance with four unanimous decision wins against Karla Benitez, Mei Yamaguchi, Aisling Daly and Juliana Carneiro Lima. Only against Simona Soukupova she fought to a split draw.[7] On May 17, 2014 Katja returned to the cage at Lappeenranta Fight Night 10 in Finland where she defeated Ukrainian Alyona Rassohyna via submission in round 2. This fight took place outside her InvictaFC contract.

Invicta Fighting Championships

According to her manager, Kankaanpää took the fight against Daly in Cage Warriors to get Invicta's attention.[8] Kankaanpää was offered a contract with Invicta Fighting Championships immediately after she emerged victorious from the fight with Daly.[8] Invicta initially wanted longer deal, but eventually agreed with Kankaanpää and closed a three-fight contract in early 2013.[8]

She made her first fight for the organisation at Invicta FC 5: Penne vs. Waterson where she defeated Brazilian Juliana Carneiro Lima by unanimous decision. The first defeat of her career Kankaanpää suffered at Invicta FC 7 on December 7, 2013. In a close decision (29:28, 29:28, 29:28), she had to admit defeat of Joanne Calderwood.

On September 6, 2014 Kankaanpää fought for the vacant strawweight title against Stephanie Eggink at Invicta FC 8. She defeated Eggink via submission in round 5 and became the second InvictaFC strawweight Champion.[9] The bout was named "Fight of the Night".[10] On January 17, 2015 Invicta FC announced the prolonging of the contract for 3 more fights.[11]

Katja's first title defense took place at Invicta FC 12: Kankaanpää vs. Souza on April 24, 2015 in Kansas City, Missouri. After dominating the first three rounds, she got caught by Brazilian Livia Renata Souza in the fourth in a Triangle choke and had to tap out.[12]

Championships and accomplishments

Mixed martial arts

Personal life

Katja is married; her maiden name was Katja Kalliokoski. She studied electronic business and is currently working as a media person in charge.[13]

Mixed martial arts record

Res. Record Opponent Method Event Date Round Time Location Notes
style="background: #ffdddd; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-no2" |Loss 10–2–1 Livia Renata Souza Submission (triangle choke) Invicta FC 12: Kankaanpää vs. Souza April 24, 2015 4 3:58 Kansas City, Missouri, United States Lost the Invicta FC Strawweight Championship.
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win 10–1–1 Stephanie Eggink Submission (D'Arce choke) Invicta FC 8: Waterson vs. Tamada September 6, 2014 5 2:03 Kansas City, Missouri, United States Won the Invicta FC Strawweight Championship.
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win 9–1–1 Alyona Rassohyna Submission (armbar) Lappeenranta Fight Night 10 May 17, 2014 2 0:49 Lappeenranta, Finland
style="background: #ffdddd; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-no2" |Loss 8–1–1 Joanne Calderwood Decision (unanimous) Invicta FC 7: Honchak vs. Smith December 7, 2013 3 5:00 Kansas City, Missouri, United States
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win 8–0–1 Juliana Carneiro Lima Decision (unanimous) Invicta FC 5: Penne vs. Waterson April 5, 2013 3 5:00 Kansas City, Missouri, United States Invicta FC Debut.
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win 7–0–1 Aisling Daly Decision (unanimous) CWFC 51 - Cage Warriors Fighting Championship 51 December 31, 2012 3 5:00 Dublin, Ireland
style="background:#c5d2ea; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-draw" |Draw 6–0–1 Simona Soukupova Decision (split) BP 12 - Botnia Punishment 12 March 23, 2012 3 5:00 Seinäjoki, Finland
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win 6–0 Mei Yamaguchi Decision (unanimous) BP 11 - Kankaanpää vs. Yamaguchi March 23, 2012 3 5:00 Seinäjoki, Finland
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win 5–0 Karla Benitez Decision (unanimous) Cage 16 - 1st Defense October 8, 2011 2 5:00 Espoo, Uusimaa, Finland
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win 4–0 Ekaterina Tarnavskaja Submission (rear-naked choke) Cage 15 - Powered by Reezig April 29, 2011 1 2:12 Espoo, Uusimaa, Finland
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win 3–0 Niina Aaltonen Submission (D'Arce choke) BP 9 - Animal Factory October 9, 2010 2 2:12 Vaasa, Ostrobothnia, Finland
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win 2–0 Dalia Grakulskyte TKO (punches) BP Fight Night 2 - Rumble in Amarillo April 17, 2010 1 2:13 Vaasa, Ostrobothnia, Finland
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win 1–0 Paulina Suska Decision (unanimous) OF - Oulu Fight 2 March 27, 2010 2 5:00 Oulu, Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland Pro Debut

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Katja Kankaanpää Signed to Invicta".
  2. ↑ "MMA Viking’s Official Nordic Rankings". Retrieved 2015-03-10.
  3. ↑ "Fightsport MMA Rankings". Retrieved 2015-03-16.
  4. ↑ "2014 Female Fighter of the Year".
  5. ↑ "Lajien parhaat urheilijat 2014" (in Finnish). Jan 13, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Nordic’s Top-Ranked Katja Kankaanpää".
  7. ↑ "Interview with Katja Kankaanpaa at themmacorner".
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "Invicta FC kiinnitti Katja Kankaanpään" (in Finnish). fightsport.fi. Feb 12, 2013.
  9. ↑ "Invicta FC 8 Results: Waterson Batters Tamada, Kankaanpaa Submits Eggink".
  10. ↑ "Invicta FC 8 bonuses. Kankaanpää vs Eggink named Fight of the Night".
  11. ↑ "Invicta Strawweight Champion Katja Kankaanpää Inks New Contract". Jan 17, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Kankaanpaa to defend title April 24". March 19, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Personal site of Katja Kankaanpaa at facebook".