With the emergence of youth combat sports on the national and international scale, is there a framework in place to help our young athletes achieve success?
When we look at outstanding athletes like Kayla Harrison, a two-time Olympic gold medalist who was able to transition from the Olympics to the PFL where she is a multiple-time woman’s light weight champion.
With Claressa Shields, a two-time Olympic boxing gold medalist who has also transitioned from the Olympics to the PFL, we can conclude that winning gold in the Olympics can considerably boost your chances of having profitable opportunities.
We may also look at amateur development promotions like IMMAF, which have allowed amateur fighters like Raul Rosas Jr. to compete in the UFC contenders series, where he won and received a contract with the UFC.
Or we can look at mma fighters like Laura Sanchez, who won gold at the GAMMA World Championships in Singapore in 2019 and received a contract with the PFL, and most recently Lawrence Phillips, who won gold at the GAMMA World Championships in Amsterdam and received a contract with ONE Championship 2022.
I believe the question is whether this is a system or simply wonderful opportunities for athletes to compete at a high level and gain the exposure they require to be picked up by top tier promoters.
I started with these statistics to call your attention to Taylor Ellis Hishaw, a young athlete I recently became aware of who, in my opinion, is on the fast track to becoming the next Kayla Harrison or Claressa Shields. Taylor came to my attention because of a youth mma match between her and a young opponent named Evie Wilson; ordinarily, I would share the post and make a quote regarding the success of the next generation.
I was already familiar with Evie Wilson since I had seen her compete in many Youth GAMMA events across the United States, but I knew next to nothing about Taylor, so after doing my homework, I was blown away by what I observed.
by the age of 16, she had a wrestling record of 19-3 with 15 pins, was an IBJJF blue belt nogi & nogi pan world champion 2022, the defending 57kg IMMAF World Champion, the current Cage bound FC teen champion 125lb, the current Valkyrie FC teen champion 130lb, and a 2x USFL 57kg national champion (22,23), and that isn’t the whole story.
So, what do you do with a young talent like this? How do you ensure she has every opportunity to fulfill her full potential like her international colleagues who are completely financed by their country, allowing them to advance without any gaps in money or housing, for example?
The best I can say is to watch her progress, like and share her content, and donate to her cause whenever you can, and ideally we’ll see her in the Olympics or on a big platform like the PFL or ONE Championship.
so Good Luck in Your Next Fight Taylor Ellis Hishaw from Coach D
