- Nickname
- Fireball
- Height5′ 5″ (1.65 m)
- 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.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Cheryl Delany
- On February 10, 2007, Julie fought Gina Carano in the first ever televised female fight on Showtime. She lost but the fight was awarded "Fight of the Night" and is considered a ground breaking and historic moment for females in MMA.
- She was the 2005 and 2006 Women's Hook N Shoot Women's Grand Prix Champion.
- She was the Extreme Grappling Open Champion.
- She was the World Kickboxing Association National Champion.
- In 2011 she became the Jackson's MMA Series Women's Bantamweight Champion.
- 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.
- 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!"
- 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.
- 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.
- [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.
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