Grapplefest 11 is only a week or so away, it promises to be a fantastic card, with some of the worlds greatest grapplers. Today we speak to ”Women Who Fight” co-founder and school teacher – Marina Mavrou. If you’d like to watch Grapplefest 11 – then just click here!
Today we talk to one of the main card event fighter – Marina Mavrou.
Marina is the founder of Women Who Fight – and trains out of Carlson Gracie London and is a current BJJ Brown belt.
Marina starts by telling me the story about how she got into Jiu-jitsu
”I never liked PE, I actually hated sports! My boyfriend got me into it as I wanted to find out why his Gi’s were drenched! Like – what are you doing? Swimming!? So for my birthday, he bought me this little box, I opened it and inside was a gumshield! Who says romance is dead?! So for the first week, I hated it, but my boyfriend said, just give it time and here we are, all those years later.”
Marina is also the co-founder for ‘Women Who Fight’. I wanted to know more about what it was and how it could help the female community.
”Women who fight is an organisation, that is there to help women who want to fight or do competitive sports. There really isn’t a lot of support for women out there. How to get into combat sports, what to eat, how to diet, how to cope with abuse perhaps? We want to encourage as many women as possible to get into these competitive sports and support them along the way. We hold regular open mats, competition prep events and lots more!”
I asked her what is better – Gi or NoGi?
”oooh Nogi! I love the Gi, but without the Gi, you can’t stall. It’s a faster game, which is why I think it’s growing in popularity so much. I do wear the Gi every now and then so I don’t forget it, but I do love the NoGi game. Once you also unlock the leglocks… now – if you pass my guard, no problems! I’ll take your legs!”
Marina is fighting Rosa Walsh, so I asked Marina what she had planned.
”I try to roll with as many new people as possible. I think training with unfamiliar faces, is better for your jiu-Jitsu. It sharpens you, because you cannot prepare for what they have or what they can do. I have never fought Rosa before, so this will be exciting!”
Marina and I chat for ages about family, jobs, what we do, what we stand for, we set the worlds to rights a little – unfortunately the screen recorder didn’t record!
What I can say is her personality is wonderfully infectious and we are really looking forward to helping and supporting ‘Women who Fight’ The best we can. Definitely buy the PPV from Fite TV – and check this fight out, its going to be a goodun’
Follow me on Twitter @ads_jujitsu_bjj for more UK Combat Sports news and discussions. Also, make sure to follow Combat Sports UK.
Featured image credits to The Grapple Club
