Nadia Kassem

Nadia Kassem (born 15 November 1995) is an Australian mixed martial artist and currently fights in the strawweight division. She has previously fought for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).[1]

Nadia Kassem
Kassem interviewed at UFC 234
Born (1995-11-15) 15 November 1995
Other names187
NationalityAustralian
Height5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Weight52 kg (115 lb; 8 st 3 lb)
DivisionStrawweight
StyleBoxing, BJJ
Fighting out ofWentworthville, Australia
TeamAustralian Top Team
Years active2015–present
Mixed martial arts record
Total7
Wins5
By knockout4
By decision1
Losses2
By knockout1
By submission1
Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog

Background

Kassem was born in Wentworthville, New South Wales, Australia. Kassem is of Lebanese descent. Her grandparents migrated from Lebanon to Australia in the 1970s.[2] She trained in Taekwondo and played rugby and softball when she was young. She was inspired by The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rousey vs. Team Tate TV series, but only started training MMA after watching her brother compete in grappling tournaments. Nadia started competing in amateur MMA not long after and turned pro. She had a record of 4–0 prior to signing with the UFC.[3]

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

Kassem fought in the Australian circuit under Urban Fight Night and Australia Regional promotion. She amassed an undefeated record of 4–0 prior to being signed by the UFC.[3]

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Kassem was expected to make her promotional debut on 11 June 2017 at UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Hunt in Auckland, New Zealand against JJ Aldrich,[4][5] but was removed from the card, citing injury, and replaced by Chan-Mi Jeon.[6]

Kassem faced Alex Chambers at UFC Fight Night: Werdum vs. Tybura on 19 November 2017 in Sydney, Australia.[7] At the weight-ins, Kassem weighed in at 120 pounds, 4 pounds over the strawweight upper limit for non-title fights of 116 pounds. The bout proceeded at a catchweight and Kassem forfeited 30% of her purse to Chambers.[8] She won the fight by unanimous decision.[9]

Kassem was scheduled to face Xiaonan Yan on 13 June 2018 at UFC Fight Night 132,[10] however, she was pulled from the event due to injury.[11]

Kassem faced Montana De La Rosa on 10 February 2019 at UFC 234. [12] She lost the fight via armbar in the second round.[12]

Kassem faced Ji Yeon Kim on 6 October 2019 at UFC 243.[13] At the weigh-ins, Kim weighed 128 pounds, 2 pounds over the flyweight non-title fight limit of 126. She was fined 30% of her purse, which went to her opponent Kassem. The bout proceeded at catchweight.[14] She lost the fight via technical knockout in round two.[15] Kassem faced heavy criticism due to faking a glove touch in the beginning of the opening round, despite being dropped seconds later.[16]

Kassem was scheduled to face Miranda Granger on August 8, 2020 at UFC Fight Night 174.[17]

On October 7, 2020 it was reported Kassem was released by UFC.[18]

Personal life

Her moniker "187" is the American police code for murder.[3]

Mixed martial arts record
Professional record breakdown
7 matches 5 wins 2 losses
By knockout 4 1
By submission 0 1
By decision 1 0
Res. Record Opponent Method Event Date Round Time Location Notes
Loss 5–2 Ji Yeon Kim KO (punch to the body) UFC 243 6 October 2019 2 4:59 Melbourne, Australia Catchweight (128 lbs) bout; Kim missed weight.
Loss 5–1 Montana De La Rosa Submission (armbar) UFC 234 10 February 2019 2 2:37 Melbourne, Australia Return to Flyweight.
Win 5–0 Alex Chambers Decision (unanimous) UFC Fight Night: Werdum vs. Tybura 19 November 2017 3 5:00 Sydney, Australia Return to Strawweight; Kassem missed weight (120 lbs).
Win 4–0 Jasita Yotawan TKO (kicks and punches) JNI Promotions: 1 on 1 24 February 2017 1 1:27 Hurstville, Australia Won the JNI Promotions Flyweight Championship.
Win 3–0 Leigha Aurisch TKO (kicks and punches) Urban Fight Night 9: Fight of the Nations 3 December 2016 1 0:19 Liverpool, Australia Won the UFN Strawweight Championship.
Win 2–0 Belinda Sedgewick KO (spinning back fist) Urban Fight Night 5 12 December 2015 1 0:10 Liverpool, Australia Flyweight debut.
Win 1–0 Jiang Zhu KO (punch) JNI Promotions: The Century 28 August 2015 1 0:26 Hurstville, Australia

See also

References
  1. "Nadia Kassem ("187")". Tapology. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
  2. Hannoun, Farah (3 November 2017). "Nadia Kassem Looking To Use Her 'High Aggression Rate' To Take Out Alex Chambers At UFC Sydney". The Sports Journal. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  3. "Interview: Nadia Kassem signs multi-fight contract with UFC and is ready to start with a bang". Fight News Australia. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
  4. "UFC Auckland: Kassem books fight with TUF alumni Aldrich". Fight News Australia. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
  5. "Meet Australia's newest UFC fighter". Retrieved 2 July 2017.
  6. "19-year-old Chan-Mi Jeon replaces Nadia Kassem next week at UFC Fight Night 110". MMAjunkie. 31 May 2017. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
  7. DNA, MMA (24 August 2017). "Alex Chambers keert eindelijk terug tegen Nadia Kassem tijdens UFC Sydney". MMA DNA. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  8. "UFC Fight Night 121 official weigh-in results: Headliner set, but four fighters heavy". MMAjunkie. 18 November 2017. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
  9. "UFC Fight Night 121 results: Nadia Kassem goes the distance to top gritty Alex Chambers". MMAjunkie. 19 November 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  10. DNA, MMA. "Australian Top Team vechters te bewonderen tijdens UFC Singapore". mmadna.nl. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  11. DNA, MMA. "Viviane Pereira pakt short notice partij tegen Yan Xiaonan tijdens UFC Singapore". mmadna.nl. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  12. "Nadia Kassem to face Montana De La Rosa at UFC 234". www.news.com.au. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  13. DNA, MMA. "Tuivasa vs. Spivak en Kassem vs. Kim toegevoegd aan UFC 243 in Melbourne". Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  14. "UFC 243 weigh-in results: Two miss weight, but Whittaker vs. Adesanya official". MMA Junkie. 4 October 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  15. Anderson, Jay (5 October 2019). "UFC 243 Results: Ji Yeon Kim's Pressure Overwhelms Nadia Kassem". Cageside Press. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
  16. "Ji Yeon Kim: Keeping Calm And Punching On | UFC". www.ufc.com. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  17. Redactie (19 September 2020). "BREAKING: Miranda Granger vs. Nadia Kassem added to UFC event on August 8". MMADNA. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  18. Martin, Damon (2 October 2020). "UFC releases Ben Sosoli after receiving 22-month jail sentence; Nadia Kassem, Dequan Townsend also cut". MMA Fighting. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.