You thought Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie were the oldest competitors in MMA over this past weekend? Well, you’re wrong. Ann Perez de Tejada made her amateur MMA debut at SCL 48 in Colorado.
On Saturday night, Sparta Combat League 48 saw Ann Perez de Tejada lose her amateur MMA debut to Laura Dettman. That’s not really noteworthy whatsoever in the grand context of the sport, but there is one thing about Tejada that surely is an eyebrow raiser: She’s 68 years old.
According to her Facebook page, she trains at Grudge Training Center and has been training in MMA and Muay Thai for 5 years, in addition to practicing BJJ and karate.
5 yrs training Muy Thai/MMA; blue belt in jiu jitsu from Karate America, Tim Wolchek; 3rd degree black belt, Kenpo Karate under Mark Baier at America’s Best Martial Arts. Currently training at Grudge Training Center, as well as 303 Training Center, and 10th Planet Boulder…
There’s even video footage of her exhibition bout in Muay Thai from three years ago.
After a couple of Muay Thai appearances, Tejada entered an MMA cage on Saturday night on the undercard of Sparta Combat League 48 in Denver, supposedly making history (according to TUF 17 alum Gilbert Smith) as the oldest fighter to ever compete in an official MMA bout.
While we don’t have free video of her contest to show you, Shell Shock MMA provided some play-by-play of the very brief action, plus Ann posted an in-fight picture on her Facebook page, which we’ve embedded below.
Ann almost gets the takedown. But Laura reverses it and lands GNP from side control. Goes north and south position then to side control and then to full mount. In full mount Laura lands some bombs until the ref stops the fight. Winner via TKO 1:24 in Round 1, Laura Dettman. Ann is 68 years old, by the way. Impressive.
Posted by Ann Perez de Tejada on Monday, February 22, 2016
SCL 48: RivalryGrizzly RoseWoman’s Amateur Strawweight FightAnn Perez de TejadaVSLaura Dettman
Posted by Shell Shock MMA on Saturday, February 20, 2016
Apparently this card streamed live on GFL.tv, so if you want to fork over $15 for the entire event to watch Ann’s fight, here’s your link.