Danielle Taylor
Introduction
Danielle "Dynamite" Taylor (born October 25, 1989) is an American mixed martial artist. She was the Strawweight King of the Cage (KOTC) champion (2 times), and she is currently competing in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women's strawweight division.
Background
Personal background
Danielle Taylor was born in Lancaster, California, United States on October 25, 1989, ad she is a full-time Custody Assistant for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department at the North County Correctional Facility in Castaic, California.
MMA background
Danielle started training in boxing , when she first got on with the Sheriff's Department in 2010, as she believed she needed to know some self-defense for her job . After struggling to find boxing matches to compete, she moved her focus to MMA and she began to add wrestling and jiu-jitsu into her training. She was encouraged by her coach to try on MMA competitions and felt in love with the sport where she fought a total of 5 amateur fights with record of 4 wins and 1 lost, paving the path to her MMA career
She joined King of the Cage (KOTC) promotion for 2 years, from March 2014 to March 2016. She picked up all first five bouts and captured women's strawweight division championship from Glena Avila. However she did not manage to defense her title against Jamie Colleen, but able to reclaim the title by TKO from Collen in the rematch in KOTC: Night of the Champion in 5 March 2016, and soon later she joined Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in 2016.
Despite her small statures, 5 feet 0 inches, she has above average power for the strawweight division. She has the ability to power in with a right hand knockout punch, where she would face fighters who have reach and height over her that can control her from outside and on the clinch.
Balancing work and training
Being a full-time Custody Assistant Wayside Jail for Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, she trains not only on her off days but also on her workdays. She puts on a 48-hour work week, where one of the day is considered a "County double - a 16 -hour shift", spreading over the course of 4 days in a week (4 on and 3 off). On her "County double - 16 hour workday', she would start her work from 6 am to 10 pm and goes for a 1–2 miles after work to get the blood flowing for not being in the gym that day. For the 8 hour work day, she would work o her conditioning exercise at Chain Fitness for an hour and then head out to Saekson Muay Thai for striking training under Julio Trana.
Mixed martial arts career
Early career
2013–2014
She had five amateur fights in both strawweight and flyweight divisions, from May 2013 to Jan 2014, under KOTC and Tuff-Nuff promotions, with four wins against Lena Hellqvist, Chelsea Lewis, Rachael Smith and Samantha Hester, and one lost to Wendy Julian.
King of the Cage
2014
Danielle made her professional career in Flyweight division (125 Ib) on KOTC debut, facing Maia Kahaunaele-Stevenson at KOTC: Beaten Path main card, in California, securing a unanimous decision win in 3 round bout.
She was up against Jillian Lybarger on 26 Ma 2014 on her second fight in Arizona on KOtC, Alliance, referring by Mike Beltran. She was victorious with TKO (punches).
Danielle submitted Nikki Lowe with an armbar on round 1 on August 7, 2014 on KOTC: Point of Impact where the event was held in California.
On her 4th professional fight, she secure a unanimous win decision over Maria Andaverde California at KOTC: Battle For The Belt promotion.
2015
On 12 February 2015, Daniella was granted a Strawweight Championship fight facing Glena Avila, and steal a split decision win with Herb Dean as the referee on KOTC: Short Fuse and crowned the- KOTC Strawweight champion.
Danielle Jamie lost her 1st title defense 5 months later to Colleen where she was knocked out on August 29, 2017 at KOTC Bitter Rivals in California on round 4.
After her last loss, Daniella made a come back with a TKO win against Calie Cutler at Las Las Vegas on KOTC: Siniter Intention event on Oct 17 2015 with the record of 6-1-0 in 2016.
2016
Danielle started her 2016 fight on March 5 on KOTC: Night of Champions in California and managed to reclaimed the 15 Ib strawweight title from Jamie Colleen at 5th round with TKO punches.
Ultimate Fighting Championship
2016
Danielle signed with Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2016 with a 7-1 record and fought the entire career under KOTC banner.
Danielle made her promotional UFC debut in on August 6, 2016 with 9 days notice at Salt Lake City, USA on UFC Fight Night: Rodríguez vs. Caceres She stepped in for the injured Justine Kish, facing 8th ranked Maryna Moroz. She suffered a split-decision lost.
In her second bout with UFC she managed to steal a win over South Korea fighter Seo Hee Ham (16-8MMA, 1-3 UFC), referring by John Sharp, in UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs. Brunson on 26 November 2016 at Melbourne, Australia, with a controversial narrow split-decision (28-29, 30-27, 30-27).
2017
On UFC Fight Night: Swanson vs. Lobov at Nashville, United States Dannielle faced Jessica Penne ( 12-5 MMA, 1-3 UFC) on the preliminary card on 22 April 2017. She secured a win with unanimous decision, outpointing with scores of 29-29 across the board from the judges, where John McCarthy was the referee of the bout.
Championships and accomplishments
Mixed martial arts
- King of the Cage (KOTC)
- KOTC Strawweight Champion (2 times)
Mixed martial arts record
| Professional record breakdown | ||
| 11 matches | 9 wins | 2 losses |
| By knockout | 3 | 1 |
| By submission | 1 | 0 |
| By decision | 5 | 1 |
| Res. | Record | Opponent | Method | Event | Date | Round | Time | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 9–2–0 | Jessica Penne | Decision (unanimous) | UFC Fight Night: Swanson vs. Lobov | 000000002017-04-22-0000April 22, 2017 | 3 | 5:00 | Nashville, United States | |
| Win | 8–2–0 | Seo Hee Ham | Decision (split) | UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs. Brunson | 000000002016-11-26-0000November 26, 2016 | 3 | 5:00 | Melbourne, Australia | |
| Lost | 7–2–0 | Maryna Moroz | Decision (split) | UFC Fight Night: Rodríguez vs. Caceres | 000000002016-08-06-0000August 6, 2016 | 3 | 5:00 | Salt Lake City, United States | UFC Debut |
| Win | 7–1–0 | Jamie Colleen | TKO (punches) | KOTC: Night of Champions | 000000002016-03-05-0000March 5, 2016 | 5 | 2:15 | California, United States | Won - KOTC Strawweight Championship |
| Win | 6–1–0 | Calie Cutler | TKO (punches) | KOTC: Sinister Intentions | 000000002015-10-17-0000October 17, 2015 | 1 | 1:58 | Las Vegas, United States | |
| Loss | 5–1–0 | Jamie Colleen | KO (punch) | KOTC: Bitter Rivals | 000000002015-08-29-0000August 29, 2015 | 4 | 1:47 | California, United States | |
| Win | 5–0–0 | Glena Avila | Decision (split) | KOTC: Short Fuse | 000000002015-02-12-0000February 12, 2015 | 5 | 5:00 | Idaho, United States | Won - KOTC Strawweight Championship Drop from flyweight to strawweight |
| Win | 4–0–0 | Maria Andaverde | Decision (unanimous) | KOTC: Battle For The Belt | 000000002014-10-02-0000October 2, 2014 | 3 | 5:00 | California, United States | |
| Win | 3–0–0 | Nikki Lowe | Submission (armbar) | KOTC: Point of Impact | 000000002014-08-07-0000August 7, 2014 | 1 | 4:22 | California, United States | |
| Win | 2–0–0 | Jillian Lybarger | TKO (punches) | KOTC: Alliance | 000000002014-05-26-0000May 26, 2014 | 3 | 1:26 | Arizona, United States | |
| Win | 1–0–0 | Maia Kahaunaele-Stevenson | Decision (unanimous) | KOTC: Beaten Path | 000000002014-03-06-0000March 6, 2014 | 3 | 5:00 | California, United States | Debut in Flyweight Division |