Aya Saeid Saber (born 20 March 1991), also known as "Sheklesa", is a mixed martial artist, who is the first woman from Egypt to compete professionally in the sport.

Biography

Saber was born on 20 March 1991. Her interest in martial arts began as a child when she earned a

brown belt A red belt is one of several colored belts used in some martial arts to either denote rank or differentiate opponents in a competition. Like the more commonly known black belt, its use varies between arts, with most using it for the style founde ...

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

in 2000. From there she joined the Egyptian National Kung Fu team, winning competitions with them. She then met Mohamed Abdel Hameed, a coach who introduced MMA to Egypt and established the Top Team - Egypt's MMA squad. Saber is the only woman in the team and is also the first woman from Egypt to compete in the sport. She coaches a new generation of women to become mixed martial artists; ultimately she intends to establish Egypt's first all-female MMA team. She recognises that in Egypt, where in 2013 over 99% of women had experienced sexual harassment, it is important for women to develop the skills in order to physically defend themselves from men.

Mixed martial arts career

Egyptian Fighting Championship

Saber made her professional MMA debut on 7 October 2012 in the Egyptian Fighting Championship (EFC), defeating Fatma Mansour. After appearing in two Superfight League matches, she returned to the EFC, losing against Yousra Ahmed on 3 May 2013. In March 2014 she beat Aya Rashdan in the EFC.

Super Fight League

In 2012 she next fought

Colleen Schneider Colleen Schneider (born March 12, 1982 in Syracuse, New York) is a retired American professional mixed martial artist. Colleen was a contestant in season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter reality competition television show. Early life She attended C ...

at SFL 6, which Schneider won after stopping Saber from elbow strikes in the first round. Saber's next match was against

Ritika Singh Ritika Mohan Singh is an Indian actress and former mixed martial artist, who predominantly appears in Tamil films in addition to Hindi Telugu and Malayalam Language films. After competing for India at the 2009 Asian Indoor Games and then parti ...

at SF 11, which Singh won.

One Championship

Saber fought

Ana Julaton } Luciana Bonifacio Julaton is an American former professional boxer and mixed martial artist. She was the first to win the Women's WBO Super Bantamweight and IBA Super Bantamweight titles. Nicknamed "The Hurricane", she is also one of the quick ...

on 2 May 2014, where the boxer made her ONE Fighting Championship: Rise of Heroes debut. Julaton's fight debut was successful and she won the fight via TKO in the third round, despite commentators in advance expecting Saber to take the fight. On 17 October 2014 she took on Malaysian Muslim fighter Ann Osman at Stadium Putra, watched by 10,000 fans. Osman beat Saber in the first round. In 2015, she returned to the One Championship and was defeated by

Angela Lee Angela Seung Ju Pucci (née Lee, Chinese: 李胜珠, Korean: 이승주, born July 8, 1996) is a Canadian-American mixed martial artist of Singaporean, Chinese and Korean heritage who is currently competing in ONE Championship. On May 5, 2016, ...

in Round 1. This match was Lee's professional debut, although she had previously fought as an amateur and was well known in her home of Hawai'i.

Evolution Championship

On 27 March 2015, Saber beat Fathia Mostafa in the Evolution Championship with a TKO (punches).

Kunlun Fight

Saber's final fight in 2015 was against Jin Tang in the Kunlun Fight League, where Tang beat her in Round 1.

Glory of Heroes

In 2018 saber fought in the

Glory of Heroes Glory of Heroes or GOH (Chinese: 勇士的荣耀; pinyin: yǒng shì de róng yào), is a Chinese kickboxing promotion developed by Beijing Wanmingyang Media. The events are streamed live on iQiyi and delay broadcast every Sunday at 22:00 on She ...

promotion, where she was defeated by Meng Bo.

Mixed martial arts record

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Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

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Ann Osman Ann "Athena" Osman (born 19 June 1986) is a Malaysian mixed martial artist who became the country's first female mixed martial artist. Born in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah dan grew up in the United States, Osman is the Malaysia's first-ever woman to com ...

, TKO (Elbows) , One FC 21 - Roar of Tigers , , align=center, , align=center, ,

Putra Indoor Stadium Putra Indoor Stadium (Malay: ''Stadium Putra''), currently named as Axiata Arena for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Background The stadium is located in the premise of the National Sports Comp ...

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, MALAYSIA , , - , Loss , align=center, ,

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Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

, Philippines , , - , Win , align=center, , Aya Rashdan , Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) , EFC - Egyptian Fighting Championship 14 , , align=center, , align=center, , Cairo University,

, Egypt , , - , Loss , align=center, ,

Yousra Ahmed Yousra ( ; ar, يسرا, ; born Seveen Nessim, ) is an Egyptian actress and singer. She is considered as a glamorous icon for the Middle East and is an influential voice in the region. Career Yousra participated as a main Role actress in almo ...

, Submission (Guillotine Choke) , EFC - Egyptian Fighting Championship 10 , , align=center, , align=center, , Cairo University,

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, Decision (unanimous) , SFL 11 - Super Fight League 11 , , align=center, , align=center, ,

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

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, Mahararastra , , - , Win , align=center, , Fatma Mansour , Decision (Unanimous) , EFC - Egyptian Fighting Championship 8 , , align=center, , align=center, , Egyptian Media Production City,

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Personal life

Saber is married and has a daughter.

References

External links

* Egypt
The story of the country’s first female MMA fighter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saber, Aya Saeid 1991 births Living people Sportspeople from Cairo Egyptian female kickboxers Egyptian wushu practitioners Egyptian female karateka Egyptian female mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing wushu Mixed martial artists utilizing karate