Julie Kedzie

Height: 165 cm

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. Show less «

What's cool about fighting is it makes me come to that reality about myself every single time. MMA i...Show more »

What's cool about fighting is it makes me come to that reality about myself every single time. MMA is a sport where you can't be half-assed. Show less «

Becoming the best I can be at something, that's really, really important. We're designed as human be...Show more »

Becoming the best I can be at something, that's really, really important. We're designed as human beings to achieve something. And when we find what it is that we want to achieve, there's something in us that drives us forward as people. We're so competitive. We're such a cool species. Show less «

I have a terrible record and I've lost so many fights and I've made so many mistakes publicly, yet I...Show more »

I have a terrible record and I've lost so many fights and I've made so many mistakes publicly, yet I think my peers still respect me, and that's cool. Just by not quitting. I mean it's a crazy thing to just keep doing what I like to do and not giving it up. Show less «

You can be kind of clumsy and goofy, maybe not the ripped six pack girl because I'm not, I always ca...Show more »

You can be kind of clumsy and goofy, maybe not the ripped six pack girl because I'm not, I always carry a spare tire, you know... that kind of thing. You can still have an enjoyable career and be a good fighter. Show less «

[on Gina Carano] Gina is like a perfect human being. There is really not a bad thing I can say about...Show more »

[on Gina Carano] Gina is like a perfect human being. There is really not a bad thing I can say about that woman. She is truly, truly a good person. Show less «

There's no pettiness in the cage. You go out there, you beat the shit out of somebody, you shake the...Show more »

There's no pettiness in the cage. You go out there, you beat the shit out of somebody, you shake their hand. That's what fighting is all about. Show less «

[on her first fight, a Muay Thai smoker] I remember in between the first and second round the ref ca...Show more »

[on her first fight, a Muay Thai smoker] I remember in between the first and second round the ref came over and said, "We're gonna make this a two round fight." And I was like, "What the hell are you talking about? What's a two round fight?" I had no idea I was beating the shit out of the girl. Show less «

I'm not a feminist to the extent that men aren't men. I like men being men. And I like feeling girly...Show more »

I'm not a feminist to the extent that men aren't men. I like men being men. And I like feeling girly and putting make up on and stuff like that, but I don't feel like I should have to. Show less «

[on her historic fight against Gina Carano on Showtime] It was a huge deal... a lot bigger deal that...Show more »

[on her historic fight against Gina Carano on Showtime] It was a huge deal... a lot bigger deal that I thought of when I actually signed for the fight. I just thought I was fighting Gina and I was like... "Oh! She's gonna be a great opponent! I can't wait to fight her!" And then they're like... "It's Showtime." And I said... "Well, what does that mean?" And it meant a really big thing. Show less «

Ronda Rousey got us into the UFC. If nobody likes her attitude, if nobody likes how she fights or an...Show more »

Ronda Rousey got us into the UFC. If nobody likes her attitude, if nobody likes how she fights or anything about her... we owe her a huge debt of gratitude for that. We're in the UFC because of Ronda Rousey. I think it's cool. I like her brashness. I think it's a breath of fresh air. Show less «

The first mixed martial arts fight I saw was a UFC, but it was horrible. It was like the Ken Shamroc...Show more »

The first mixed martial arts fight I saw was a UFC, but it was horrible. It was like the Ken Shamrock / Royce Gracie 2 or 3, I don't remember which one... the one were there was like, 25 minutes of grappling and I had no idea what was going on. I was bored out of my mind. And then right after that my friend put in the Hook N Shoot Revolution DVD, which was the all female fight show that Jeff Osborne had, and that... I was like... "Oh hell! The women are interesting. They're not just hugging each other." Show less «

Martial Arts gave me a sense of myself, for sure. I'm a very, very clumsy person. It probably kept m...Show more »

Martial Arts gave me a sense of myself, for sure. I'm a very, very clumsy person. It probably kept me from breaking more limbs than necessary because really, I'll walk down the street and fall down. Show less «

I'm definitely a fighter and I think there's a lot of women out there where fighting is probably the...Show more »

I'm definitely a fighter and I think there's a lot of women out there where fighting is probably their niche. I hope that I can help bring them to that. I would love to inspire other women. Show less «

My coaches call me the Lucille Ball of MMA.

[on being an ambassador for Women's MMA] I think we were all ambassadors in a way. I don't think I s...Show more »

[on being an ambassador for Women's MMA] I think we were all ambassadors in a way. I don't think I stick out any more than anybody else except that I sure do talk a lot, and that helps. Show less «

I sort of verbally assaulted some people wearing chorts for no reason. I think I'm getting kind of a...Show more »

I sort of verbally assaulted some people wearing chorts for no reason. I think I'm getting kind of aggressive. I don't know what it was. They just walked by me, and I was done eating, and I was just like, "Yeah! Wear your chorts!" And it was so rude, and I apologize to you guys whoever you are. Show less «

[on the weird wikifeet foot-fetish website page dedicated to her feet] I don't even have that nice o...Show more »

[on the weird wikifeet foot-fetish website page dedicated to her feet] I don't even have that nice of feet. I have really big, wide feet, and I don't get them pedicured often. They're not nice feet. I don't really get it. I'm going to get like, giant tattoos on them or something ridiculous because they're not that great of feet. They're hard to fit, and one of my arches has collapsed, and I have bunions. These people are really, really nuts. Show less «

To be a woman in an all male environment, it's difficult in some ways. People see the female fighter...Show more »

To be a woman in an all male environment, it's difficult in some ways. People see the female fighters and they tend to associate them with Ring Girls. It's the balance between entertainment and sport, and it's unfortunate that it's there, but I do think that sport ends up taking over because they go from, "Woo woo! Look at her butt!" to "Holy crap! Did you see that elbow? Look at that punch! Oh my god, this girl can fight!" Show less «

[on the bizarre thing that happened after her 1st time fighting in St. Petersburg, Russia] There was...Show more »

[on the bizarre thing that happened after her 1st time fighting in St. Petersburg, Russia] There was an after party where there were midgets, small people, little people... and they were painted blue, and they were running around the boat, and there were people hanging from the ceiling. I was very, very drunk on accents. Show less «

Julie Kedzie

Julie Kedzie's FILMOGRAPHY

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