Julie Kedzie

Julie Kedzie was born in Chicago, Illinois. The family moved to Bloomington, Indiana where she began studying Tae Kwon Do at the age of 4. Her progression in Tae Kwon Do led her to other martial arts - Muay Thai Kickboxing and Jiu Jitsu. She is a third degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and has a purple belt under Greg Jackson. Kedzie has a Bachelors degree in English Literature from Indiana University. While in school she took up as many odd jobs as she could to be able to pay for her fight training. Kedzie revealed that she struggled with bulimia, an eating disorder, from the age of 18, the year after her parents divorced. She believes prescription medication triggered severe depression and anxiety. Her older sister confronted her and Kedzie sought out therapy and hasn't touched the medication since. She was first introduced to MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) through the viewing of the DVD Hook N Shoot, a series of all female fights. She was hooked and decided to make a career in MMA. She relocated to California where she trained with one of the fighters she had seen on the DVD. Arriving back in Indiana in 2004, she was invited to participate in the next Hook N Shoot Tournament, which she ended up winning. On February 10, 2007 she faced Gina Carano in the first-ever cable televised female fight on Showtime. Kedzie lost the decision but the two women received "Fight of the Night" honors. Her popularity skyrocketed, her spunky and sassy personality making her an instant fan favorite. Kedzie amassed a 16-13 MMA record. Her fight against Strikeforce's Miesha Tate on August, 18, 2012 although a loss, was considered to be one of the most exciting fights of the year. Her final two MMA fights took place in the UFC octagon in 2013. Retiring after her 29th professional fight, she does MMA color commentary, helps train other fighters at the prestigious Jackson/Winklejohn MMA fight camp in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is the fight matchmaker for Invicta Fighting Championships, a fight series that gives women fighters a platform to perform and is known for developing female stars in the sport.