Sheena Starr – “I went and fought the bad bitches nobody wanted to touch. I'm battle tested.”
The combat sports experience that Sheena Starr brings to the squared circle is represented by far more than just the second round knockout she recorded over Ivana Coleman earlier this year at BKFC 5.
The 36-year old "Puma Starr" has done it all from matchmaking, to patching fighters up as a cutwoman, to competing in more than 30 mixed martial fights. Despite having been there and done that, Starr recently made the decision that bare knuckle is the sport she was destined to be a part of.
"If you look at my record, it looks like I'm a tomato can," Starr said of the losses. "My home state of Michigan did not document regulated fights until February 2016. I legitimately have about seven years of unrecorded fights."
Depending on which site you take a look at, you will find that Starr's amateur career is not accurately defined. Some show representation of 20 some amateur bouts, while Starr will tell you that number should be almost double.
"I just kept learning from little mistakes I made and I'm really f**king stubborn and didn't want to give up," she said when asked why she continued to fight after losing multiple fights in a row. "Another part of it to, is that me ex-fiancé, who is the father of my kids, we had this little pact that one day we were gonna be pros and I just kept going for it. I just loved it. The sport and community isn't all about wins and losses, but more about your own individual self-journey, and the memories and the connections you make."
Starr's troubles followed her to the professional side of competition just as they did as an amateur. With a rocky 0-4 pro start in MMA, Starr came to the realization that it was time to change sports.
"I was just stubborn," she said. "After I had Cancer in 2011, I had nerve damage. I had suffered neuropathy and sustained some pretty good nerve damage in many areas of my body including one of my arms. I only have about 60 percent use of that arm. I couldn't grapple. I can strike all day. I've got over 40 some MMA fights and I've only been finished on the feet one time. I just came to the realization that this isn't the sport I'm meant for. As much as I love it, I can't f**king grapple and everybody would fight would want to take me down and I would burn out. It sucks with one arm. I'm just not built for it. I just can't f**king grapple. It's not that I can't fight. I've been a blue belt for six million years but there are no schools by me. I live in the sticks. I did the best I could. I'm just not good at jiu jitsu. I could show up everyday but I'm just not good at it, so f**k it, I don't want to do it anymore."
Starr recently joked on her personal Facebook stating, "Don't really wanna fight MMA anymore because what if they choke me and I have an orgasm instead of defending . Like how embarrassing would that be."
"I fought almost every weekend. I fought while I was going through chemotherapy. I have pictures of me walking out, defending titles, with black eyes because I was so f**king sick. Then the fight gets recorded the way even with video footage. Nobody knew what they were doing. It was so new. It was an amateur career. Who cares? I don't."
But then Puma had her big break. 37-seconds into the second round, Starr finished Coleman and was finally able to raise her hand in victory as a professional.
"F**king finally," Starr said. "You ever get somewhere and you have to pee really bad and then you go and you just feel so good? That's what it was like to finally get a win (laughs). Yes... yes, finally. I've had MMA and Muay Thai wins but this was just on a bigger scale. I'm undefeated in striking except for a decision loss in boxing. It felt great. I felt redeemed, like 'see you guys, I can throw down.' It just felt good to be like 'Ha, see, I told you.' I felt proud of myself."
Despite getting the win, there was another reason bare knuckle fans were talking about Sheena Starr that night. The brash fighter and mother from Michigan grabbed the attention of many with her fight shirt. If her weigh-in shirt that said, "I have no tits," didn't get people talking, her official fightwear sure did. "Hillary Clinton is a c**t," the shirt read... except her version was not censored.
"Everyone was like, 'don't bring politics into fighting.' And I get it cause I had that c**t's name on my shirt but it wasn't about being a Democrat or a Republican," Starr said about the shirt. "I've always been really tied to the Veteran and Military community, not only where I live but everywhere. I come from a military family. A close buddy of mine is a Navy SEAL and he told me these horror stories of how evil a woman she was. I took the bare knuckle fight on very short notice, like a week and a half out. I was talking to him and I was like 'you know what, I don't have time for sponsors. I'm gonna do this for you. I went and had a shirt made and I picked it up on the way to the airport. It was so last minute, but that's how it happened. I never expected it to be a big story. Ted f**king Nugent shared my picture. I got so much support and gained a ton of new fans and followers because I had the guts to go out there and do that. I did have some feminists upset, saying I was degrading women. Shut up, put on your p***y hats and shut up. I don't care."
With the t-shirt drama behind her and a bare knuckle win to her credit, Starr returns to the squared circle on October 19 to take on Delaney Owen at BKFC 8 in Tampa.
"I actually know Delaney very well," Starr said. "Being so involved in the fight community, especially in women's MMA, her manager used to hit me up all the time. He would always give me a key in on to what kind of opponent they were looking for, based on who she was. Finally she got to Invicta, and she's good on the feet but she's one of those dominant wrestler, grappler chics that I hated fighting. I don't know why she's going to bare knuckle. I know she tried pro boxing. She can hold her own but I don't think she dangerous striker. She is more of a jiu jitsu type practitioner. It will be interesting to see without the gloves, if she pulls a Joe Riggs and tries to double-leg me (laughs). Delaney is so f**king short, for real. She'll be going for body, but as long as I protect my liver, she can't do nothing to me. I've fought some of the best in the country. Look at the people I fought. They are in the UFC and Bellator. I went and fought the bad bitches nobody wanted to touch. I'm battle tested. I didn't get protected like her. I'm happy for bare knuckle. Alright you one dimensional wrestling f**kers, where you at now?"
While Starr will be busy in Tampa on October 19, her schedule won't soon slow down. She is on the road most every weekend, going from event to event.
"When I was sick, I wanted to learn," Starr said of her role as a cutwoman. "If I couldn't fight, I wanted to be involved somehow. I wanted to stay in the sport that I love. It sucked when you have doctors telling you that you have a low blood cell count and that you can never compete again. We didn't have a cutman in Michigan. It was the wild, wild west here for a wild. I started by learning how to wrap hands well. I went to Chicago and took some of Stitch's (Jacob Duran) courses. I shadowed him for a while. He always let me. That man is magical. He would be Invicta or other shows and I would ask to follow him and he always let me. It was like a classroom. I got to watch how he would work a cut and mix the adrenaline with the Vaseline, the swelling. I already came from the EMT background and I had that basic first aid knowledge. With picking the brain of Stitch on top of my own apprenticeship, it was great. I remember the first bare knuckle event I was at. Stitch didn't want one of the cutmen working with him. He saw me there with Tony Lopez and he was like 'Mr. Feldman, this is Sheena, bring her in.' I couldn't that night because I was working with Tony, but it was that introduction that got it started. Working with Stitch is the best thing that I can put on a resumé. I owe him a lot."
Aside from her many roles in the fight business, Starr's most important job is "mom." She is a mother to two teens who have come accustom to her dedication to combat sports.
"They just look at it like any other fights," Starr said of her two daughters and their reaction to mom competing in bare knuckle. "They've been around it. They grew up in a gym. They think it is cool. 'My mom is a fighter.' They used bring my title belts to show and tell. It's just normal for them."
Bare Knuckle FC 8 takes place October 19 from the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa, Florida. The event is headlined by former UFC fighters Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva and Gabriel Gonzaga.
BKFC 8 will be broadcast across the United States and Canada, exclusively on pay-per-view through MultiVision Media, Inc., on all major television distribution outlets for $29.99. It will also be available to BKFC's international broadcast partners worldwide and via stream to all in-home and out-of-home connected devices through FITE.