Cage warrior

The outcome wasn’t what she had hoped for. Tamikka Brents doesn’t take losing lightly. “I hate losing. But I will just train harder. This just didn’t turn out like I had planned,” said Brents.

Brents’ final days of training and preparing for the Sept. 13 Capital City Cage Wars had her mentally and physically prepared. And as the lone professional local female on the evening’s fight card of amateur and professional MMA (mixed martial arts) competitors, Brents may have seemed to have a little more to prove.

Brents, who turned 26 the week of the fight, came to Springfield as a young girl in 1993. Her family came here from San Diego. “I was a military brat,” said Brents, who was born in the Philippines, and who later joined the United States Navy. She got out of the Navy in 2008 after an injury. Her military career helped along her future in MMA.

“It all started because I wanted to be in shape for boot camp,” Brents said. She trained while she was at the Great Lakes Naval Academy, and every duty station she came upon she found a gym where she could work out. While playing basketball in the Navy in 2009, Brents sustained a knee injury and ultimately left the Navy, returned to Springfield and gained a lot of weight.

After her return home, Brents said she was 5 feet 3 inches and weighed 215 pounds. After her knee healed she went to the Team Warrior Concepts gym in Springfield.  Just one year later, in 2010, she was at 160 pounds and competed in her first fight. Today her record is 13 wins, zero losses and one draw at the amateur level. She has been fighting professionally since 2012. Professionally she is now 2-2.

Brents is currently training through the Springfield-based Kennel Fight Club at 1508 Sangamon Avenue. “I switched to them in in the summer of 2014. They have good competition here and everyone here has been together as fighters for a long time.”

Brents isn’t intimidated by being one of a handful of girls at the gym. “At the Kennel, there’s myself, my girlfriend Brittany Young and a few other girls. All the guys here know me. I’ve always been a tomboy. They don’t see me as ‘Tamikka the girl,’ they see me as ‘Tamikka the teammate,’” said Brents. At previous facilities where she had trained, she felt she was treated differently.

“It doesn’t help me if they go soft. They don’t give me any breaks. If they do, they get punched harder by me,” she said.

Brents’ trainer, Stephen James, owner of The Kennel Fight Club, has known Brents since she was seven, when he was a friend of her older brother. He took her under his wing at his club. “I had to get my hands on her. I knew she had potential and I could see what she was needing,” said James.

James has high hopes for Brents’ future. “I think she’s your next Ultimate Fighting Champ. She’s just a people person, and a strong-headed fighter,” said James. James believes in all the athletes at his gym. “Every single person in there on any given day can be a champion,” he said.

Brents’ love for the fighting world came when she was young and would watch martial arts movies, boxing, kickboxing, Jean-Claude Van Damme movies, and anything with gladiators. It also helped that her older brother, Bobby, was an MMA fighter and helped influence her. But it’s the feeling when she sets foot in the ring that keeps her coming back. “Being able to get into the cage and go 100 percent and not hold anything back. Not a lot of people can say that they can do that,” Brents said.

Brents has sponsorships now that allow her to do professional fighting as her full-time job. A typical day for her includes practicing in the morning and later in the evening at The Kennel Fight Club. In the middle of the day she goes to strength and conditioning training at Anytime Fitness on Dirksen Parkway with trainer, Chad Schaive. Each day also has her seeing two different chiropractors and she gets weekly massages. Cardio workouts are also in her schedule at T.C. Roesch’s Gym. 

Brents felt she was ready for the Capital City Cage Wars.

“We are upping our intensity. We are at it every week, but now we are upping the pace and our technique,” she said during the week of the fight. Unfortunately though, her competitor, Fallon Fox, also came into the ring prepared.

Preparing for any competitor is always hard work, but this fight was different. A lot of controversy surrounded the event: Fox was born a male and is now legally a female. Brents was quoted more than a year ago as saying Fox used that for publicity instead of her fighting skills.

“I have no problems with her being transgendered,” said Brents, who came out as a lesbian a few years ago and who proudly wears a rainbow flag when she enters the fight ring. Fans for both fighters had mixed feelings about the controversy. Many went to social media sites and talked badly about the other opponent. On her Facebook page, where she has more than 2,000 fans, people were saying rude things about Fox.

“I don’t tell anyone what to do. I just train. I eat. I sleep,” said Brents, adding that many of Fox’s fans were against her and were upset about her statement about Fox.

Emma Todd, a fan of Fox’s and herself a transgendered female, thought Brents could have done more to speak up for Fox to her fans. Todd, who attended the recent fight, said fans were yelling at Fox.

“It was very trans-phobic, inconsiderate, just rude comments,” said Todd, adding that she believes the fight was a fair one.

Brents said she doesn’t take back what she said previously and sticks by how she felt, even before the fight. “I don’t think it’s fair, but if I’m slated to fight, I’m going to fight. I’m not going to back down from a fight,” said Brents, adding that she doesn’t think those who are transgendered should be in combat sports.

The fight with Fox left Brents with seven staples to a head wound, a concussion and a broken orbital around the eye. Her injuries were the worst she has ever sustained in an MMA fight. The staples have been removed, but she hasn’t been completely cleared by her doctors to return. Monday, Oct. 6, was her scheduled day back in the gym.

Fox believes her win against Brents came about because she had studied Brents’ fights on video. “Some people were worried at first because she’s a very strong opponent. But I was able to study my opponent’s skills in advance to find her weaknesses. Her last fight ended with clinch and knees to her abdomen and face. We knew right away that this was the area to focus. And from the jump, the game plan was executed perfectly,” said Fox. “I think Tamikka had heart as any good professional MMA fighter has. But, she didn’t fix her past mistake of learning how to escape the clinch.”

The days since the fight have been filled with social media backlashes including some professional MMA fighters saying Fox should be banned from female MMA fighting. Both Fox and Brents have shared their views via Facebook and fans on both sides have reacted negatively. But the focus now is on the next fight, although her recent loss left Brents disappointed.

Even with all the controversy, Brents doesn’t worry about what others think. “There’s always people going against you. It’s just fuel for the fire. You always want to prove other people wrong,” she said.

For Brents, the recent fight was a chance to be able to fight at home for her friends and family. The last time she had fought in Springfield was in 2011. Since then she has competed throughout the United States and Canada. Her experience fighting at home didn’t have the outcome she wanted.

“I’m pretty disappointed with the outcome. I hate losing at anything so when it comes to losing in the sport I absolutely love, it’s pretty heartbreaking. At the same time though, I learned a lot and gained fans as well as respect from other mixed martial artists. So it wasn’t a total loss,” said Brents.

Brents said her next move is heading to the Invicta Fighting Championships. Invicta is the females-only pro MMA fight series. “I signed a new deal with them and that’s all that matters at this point. Being ready for whatever challenge they throw at me in the form of my next opponent, whoever that will be,” said Brents. Invicta declined comment for this story.

Brents hopes to compete in at least one more fight through Invicta before the year is up. For the past few weeks she’s just been recuperating and going out with friends.

Her motivation comes from her fans. “I love each and every one of them. They support me in winning and losing and it means a lot more than people think. I can’t wait to return and make them proud again.”

Brenda Protz of Springfield is a freelance writer and associate professor of Public Speaking at Lincoln Land Community College. She has been a staff member at newspapers in Sullivan, Vandalia and Clinton, as well as a correspondent for the State Journal-Register and other publications.