On the same weekend as Royce Gracie (49) vs Ken Shamrock (51), this incredible fight happened at Sparta Combat League in Denver, USA. 68-year-old Ann Perez de Tejada made her MMA debut against  24-year-old Laura Dettman.

Perez de Tejada trains BJJ (she is a blue belt) and Muay Thai at Grudge Training Center. Laura Dettman (2W 2L) wins by 1rst round TKO.

Here’s the fight:

Jeff Cisneros of Sparta Combat League made a statement regarding the fight:

Wanted to take a brief moment to talk about the Ann Perez fight yesterday. For the weeks leading up to it, I won’t lie, I took some heat for allowing this fight to take place, and why? Because people sometimes are insecure in the fact that they never followed their own dreams, so they want to derail someone else from following theirs. When I got the phone call from Luke, her coach, and he told me the story and how she just needed this chance for herself, I with no hesitation said yes for several reasons. First off, Luke’s word is gold with me, and second, when I get the chance to help facilitate someone’s dream I will do it if I can. Sometimes one just needs that one opportunity. I know for myself, several people along my journey gave me the opportunity that no one else would, and without those opportunity’s I would not be where I am today. I absolutely understand that we at SCL have a responsibility to provide our clients and sponsors with a quality show, and I believe we do.

For years I’ve heard, why is that person on the card he loses everytime, but what they don’t understand is for that person, whether it be 30 seconds or 15 minutes, they are free, and for a brief moment in their life they are doing something that not many would ever have the courage to do, to fulfill a life-long dream. For some it’s a way to rid their demons, and others it’s the way of life, they are born for it. With that being said, who am I to say no you don’t deserve at least one moment to fulfill a dream? I’m nobody, just guy who came from nothing who had nothing but a dream. Those dreams saved my life. I failed more times than I could count, but in those failures they brought something so much more valuable, they brought life lessons. In closing, I want to say I’m very proud of Ann and my decision to let her do it, and her Coaches, Luke and Nick, as well for supporting her journey and dream. I can never say it enough, SCL is different than any other promotion on this planet and always will be. We are a community, a family fighting for a cause and building dreams, and I will say it when my time is up, people will remember me as the guy who truly believed he could change the world and did everything in his power to do so! Thank you all, Love you all for the support!