Female MMA fighter provides self-defence training to young women

Read the full article here: https://www.toronto.com/news-story/9287749-former-female-mma-fighter-provides-self-defence-training-to-young-women/

A Scarborough woman who made a career of beating people in the ring is now teaching girls how to defend themselves both in and out of the gym.

Gemma Sheehan, now 24, started kick-boxing at 13 followed by wrestling and jujitsu.

“These are the component sports of mixed martial arts and then before I knew it, when I was about 16, I decided all I wanted to do is be an MMA fighter,” she said in a recent interview. “From the middle of high school until the end of university, I pretty much only focused on training.”

Sheehan said that she trained two to four hours a day, six days a week and won five of her six MMA fights.

“I had a lot of interest from sponsors … so there was quite a bit of hype around me (being) up-and-coming in the fighting arena.”

But in 2017, Sheehan stopped fighting after a brain scan showed some damage that was likely caused by trauma.