Tara LaRosa
| Tara Nicole LaRosa | |
|---|---|
| Born |
January 8, 1978 Woodstown, New Jersey, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Height | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) |
| Weight | 134 lb (61 kg; 9.6 st) |
| Division | Bantamweight |
| Style | Grappling, Judo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu |
| Team | Team Terror |
| Rank |
Purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Royce Gracie Brown belt in judo |
| Mixed martial arts record | |
| Total | 27 |
| Wins | 22 |
| By knockout | 3 |
| By submission | 12 |
| By decision | 7 |
| Losses | 5 |
| By knockout | 1 |
| By decision | 4 |
| Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog | |
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
Representing  United States
|
||
| Women's Submission grappling | ||
| ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship | ||
 |
2005 Long Beach | Open |
|
2007 Trenton | -60 kg |
| FILA Grappling World Championships | ||
 |
2007 Antalya | -63 kg (No Gi) |
|
2009 Fort Lauderdale | -59 kg (Gi) |
|
2009 Fort Lauderdale | Open (Gi) |
|
2008 Lucerne | -55 kg (Gi) |
|
2009 Fort Lauderdale | -59 kg (No Gi) |
|
2010 Cracow | Open (No Gi) |
 |
2008 Lucerne | -55 kg (No Gi) |
|
2010 Cracow | -60 kg (No Gi) |
| NAGA Grappling World Championships | ||
|
2006 Jersey City | -61 kg (No Gi) |
|
2006 Jersey City | -73 kg (Blue) |
|
2007 Jersey City | -61 kg (No Gi) |
|
2006 Jersey City | -61 kg (Blue) |
Tara Nicole LaRosa (born January 8, 1978) is an American mixed martial artist and grappler whose most high-profile successes occurred while competing in BodogFight, where she became the first and only BodogFight Women's Bantamweight (135 lbs) Champion. She later defeated HOOKnSHOOT 125-pound champion Cody Welchlin in a non-title bout at a HOOKnSHOOT/BodogFight co-sponsored event.
LaRosa has spent most of her career competing at bantamweight, although her natural weight class is the flyweight division. She holds wins over top mixed martial arts fighters such as Amanda Buckner, Kelly Kobold, Shayna Baszler, Alexis Davis, Julie Kedzie, Sally Krumdiack and Takayo Hashi.
She has lived in eight different cities over the course of a decade in order to train at different gyms. During 2006, LaRosa trained and fought out of Rich Guerin's Yakima MMA gym in Yakima. Starting in April 2007, she trained out of Charles McCarthy's American Top Team affiliate for 6 months in Boca Raton. In September 2007 she joined the Philadelphia Fight Factory and trained with fighters like Zach Makovsky and Eddie Alvarez. LaRosa trained at Ivan Salaverry MMA in Seattle. She moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico in January 2013 to train at Jackson's Mixed Martial Arts. On December 6, 2013, LaRosa was inducted in the New Jersey Martial Arts Hall of Fame.
LaRosa grew up in her native Woodstown, New Jersey. She attended the now defunct St. James Catholic High School. A love of Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal and Chuck Norris action films inspired her to enroll in judo. Years later, she moved into mixed martial arts training and trained with Royce Gracie. Her first venture into martial arts was through shotokan when she was 17. LaRosa was active in field hockey, basketball, and softball. Her favorite sport outside of MMA is field hockey, which she played for 12 years after starting in the 5th grade. She earned a field hockey scholarship to attend Catawba College between 1996 and 2000. LaRosa graduated with a degree in physical education. While in college, LaRosa started training in judo and jiu jitsu. Her membership in the college's judo club led to her competing in tournaments.
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