Cindy Dandois (born 26 October 1984) is a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

female

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorp ...

. She formerly competed in the

Bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class is derived from Ba ...

and

Featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, this ...

divisions in Invicta and the

Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

and also the

Lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing. Notable lightweight boxe ...

division in the

Professional Fighters League The Professional Fighters League (PFL) is an American mixed martial arts league founded by venture capitalist Donn Davis in 2017 and launched in 2018, following the acquisition and restructuring of the former World Series of Fighting (WSOF) promot ...

(PFL). She began her judo training at the age of 5 under the training of Johan Laats, and freestyle wrestling at age 8 under

Joseph Mewis Joseph Mewis (born 23 March 1931) is a Belgian wrestler. He was Olympic silver medalist in Freestyle wrestling Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling originated from Great Britain and the United States. Along with Greco-Roman, it ...

. Dandois later transitioned into mixed martial arts and trains at

Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts is an American mixed martial arts training organization headed by former UFC Champion and former co-founder of Team Quest, Randy Couture. Xtreme Couture was founded with the flagship gym in Las Vegas. Since th ...

while she is in the United States.

Personal life

Dandois is a high school teacher. She has six children: Naomi, Eleftherios, Lola Katerina, Nafisatu, Denahi and Sara-Mae. During her time in Strikeforce she was scheduled to fight

Miesha Tate Miesha Theresa Tate ( ; born August 18, 1986) is an American professional mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist. She currently competes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), in which she is a former UFC Women's Bantamweight Champions ...

, but the bout never materialized. This brought the two together, and they have been friends ever since. Tate later invited Dandois to the United States, to assist in her in training for her second fight against

Ronda Rousey Ronda Jean Rousey (; born February 1, 1987) is an American professional wrestler, actress, former judoka and mixed martial artist. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand and is the current SmackDown Women’s ...

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

In January 2009, Cindy Dandois made her professional MMA debut, defeating Marloes Coenen. Over the next several years Dandois defeated champion kickboxer

Jorina Baars Jorina Baars (born ) is a Dutch female kickboxing, K1 Muay Thai fighter, based in Den Helder, Netherlands. She has competed professionally since 2004 and is the current ISKA Welterweight World Muay Thai champion and the Enfusion Women's Featherwe ...

, and took on other fighters under the M-1 banner. Dandois was going to fight

Gina Carano Gina Joy Carano (born April 16, 1982) is an American actress and former mixed martial artist. She competed in EliteXC and Strikeforce from 2006 to 2009, where she compiled a 7–1 record. Her popularity led to her being called the "face of women ...

after the latter had lost to

Cris Cyborg Cristiane Justino Venâncio (born July 9, 1985), known professionally by her ring name Cris Cyborg (and formerly by her married name Cristiane Santos), is a Brazilian-American mixed martial artist who as of January 2021 competes in Bellator MMA, ...

, but had to withdraw due to getting pregnant.

Invicta FC

After three years of inactivity due to pregnancy Dandois became active again, and signed with

Invicta Fighting Championships Invicta Fighting Championships, also known as Invicta FC, is an American professional mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion dedicated to Women's mixed martial arts that was founded in 2012 by Janet Martin and Shannon Knapp. The promotion is currentl ...

. In her promotional debut with Invicta FC in December 2014, Dandois faced

Tonya Evinger Tonya Evinger (born June 4, 1981) is an American mixed martial artist. A professional mixed martial artist since 2006, Evinger has previously competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), EliteXC, Raging Wolf and Invicta Fighting Champi ...

at Invicta FC 10: Waterson vs. Tiburcio. She lost the fight by armbar submission. Dandois' next opponent was Megan Anderson, who she defeated by triangle choke submission at Invicta FC 14: Evinger vs. Kianzad. Dandois then submitted

Jessamyn Duke Jessamyn Laurel Duke (born June 24, 1986) is an American professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist. As a wrestler, she worked with WWE as part of their NXT brand. She formerly competed for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and I ...

via armbar submission at Invicta FC 18: Grasso vs. Esquibel. Dandois was later scheduled to face Cris Cyborg at a 140-pound catchweight, but the fight was cancelled. Daria Ibragimova was given the headliner fight instead, as a 145 title shot against Cyborg.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

In February 2017, it was announced that Dandois had signed with the UFC. In her debut, Dandois fought Alexis Davis at

UFC Fight Night 108 ''UFC Fight Night: Swanson vs. Lobov'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 108'') was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship held on April 22, 2017, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. Background A feathe ...

. She lost the fight via unanimous decision. Dandois later announced on her Instagram that she had been released from the UFC.

Rizin Fighting Federation

Dandois then signed with the Japanese promotion Rizin Fighting Federation. She made her debut against

Reina Miura Reina Miura (三浦伶奈, born 22 July 1996) is a Japanese professional mixed martial artist, currently competing in the featherweight division of Rizin and DEEP. Mixed martial arts career Early career Openweight career Miura made her amat ...

at Rizin World Grand Prix 2017: 2nd Round on December 29, 2017. She won the fight by split decision.

Bellator MMA

Dandois faced Olga Rubin on November 15, 2018 at Bellator 209 She lost the fight via unanimous decision.

Professional Fighters League

In March 2020, Dandois signed with

. Dandois mader her debut against

Kaitlin Young Kaitlin Young (born September 15, 1985) is an American mixed martial artist who currently competes in the lightweight division. A professional mixed martial artist since 2007, Young has also competed for EliteXC, Invicta Fighting Championships, a ...

at PFL 3 on May 6, 2021. She lost the bout via unanimous decision. Dandois faced

Kayla Harrison Kayla Jean Harrison (born July 2, 1990) is an American professional mixed martial artist and former Olympic and world champion judoka, currently signed to the Professional Fighters League (PFL). Harrison competed in the weight category in jud ...

on June 25, 2021 at PFL 6. She lost the bout in the first round via an arm bar submission.

Controversies

Battery incident by Mustapha Brika

In November 2019, Dandois accused her then boyfriend Mustapha Brika, who is also a MMA fighter, of assaulting her and breaking her nose. Brika denied the assault and stated the injury was caused by Dandois herself. In December 2020 a Belgian court sentenced Brika to 50 hours of community service.

Mixed martial arts record

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Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

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Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

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Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

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La Louvière La Louvière (; wa, El Lovire) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Boussoit, Haine-Saint-Paul, Haine-Saint-Pierre, Houdeng-Aimeries, Hou ...

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Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

, Israel , , - , Win , align=center, 12–3 , Irén Rácz , TKO (punches) , Staredown Fighting Championship 12 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, N/A , Deurne, Belgium , , - , Win , align=center, 11–3 , Hatice Ozyurt , Submission (triangle choke) , Battle Under the Tower 2018 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 1:46 ,

Steenwijk Steenwijk (; Low German: ''Steenwiek'', ''Stienwiek'' English: ''Stenwick'') is a city in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It is located in the municipality of Steenwijkerland. It is the largest town of the municipality. Steenwijk received city ...

, Netherlands , , - , Win , align=center, 10–3 ,

, Decision (split) , Rizin World Grand Prix 2017: 2nd Round , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 , Saitama, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 9–3 , Kerry Hughes , TKO (punches) , Cage Warriors 89 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:53 ,

Lotto Arena Lotto Arena is an arena in Antwerp, Belgium. It has a seating capacity for 8,050 people for concerts and 5,218 for sporting events. The arena opened on March 10, 2007, after nine months of construction.

, Antwerp, Belgium , , - , Loss , align=center, 8–3 , Alexis Davis , Decision (unanimous) , UFC Fight Night: Swanson vs. Lobov , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

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Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

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Yana Kunitskaya Iana "Yana" Kunitskaya (born November 11, 1989) is a Russian mixed martial artist competing in the bantamweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). As of September 19, 2022, she is #6 in the UFC women's bantamweight rankings. ...

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Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

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References

External links

*
Cindy Dandois
at PFL * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dandois, Cindy 1984 births Sportspeople from Antwerp Featherweight mixed martial artists Living people Bantamweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing judo Catgeory:Mixed martial artists utilizing wrestling Mixed martial artists utilizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu Belgian female judoka Belgian female mixed martial artists Belgian Christians Belgian practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu Female Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners Belgian schoolteachers 21st-century Belgian educators Lightweight mixed martial artists Ultimate Fighting Championship female fighters

Personal life

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

Invicta FC

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Rizin Fighting Federation

Bellator MMA

Professional Fighters League

Controversies

Battery incident by Mustapha Brika

Mixed martial arts record

See also

References

External links