Who is Yana Kuntiskaya?

Yana Kunitskaya is an expert blended martial artist from Russia who contends in the Bantamweight division in Invicta Fighting Championship. She made her MMA debut on the 23rd of May 2009, at K-1 World Grand Prix, Poland. As per the recent ranking, she is in the 7th position of UFC’s women’s bantamweight ranking. Her wrestling name, “Foxy well know her.”

Yana Kuntiskaya was born on the 11th of November 1989 in Murmansk, Murmansk Oblast, Russia. She is the daughter of Olga Kunitskaya and Joseph Kunitskaya. Her mother was a professional gymnast, and her father was a professional Skier. As a sibling, she as a younger sister Victoria. 

Quick Info
Full Name
Date Of Birth11th of November 1989
Birth PlaceMurmansk, Murmansk Oblast, Russia
Parent(s)Olga Kunitskaya
Joseph Kunitskaya
ProfessionMixed Martial Artist
SpouseThiago Santos
Age32 Years
Height5 ft 8 in
ChildrenNot Known
Net WorthNot Known

Nationality and Physical Stats

Yana Kunitskaya is a Russian by nationality and belongs to white ethnicity.

The zodiac sign of Yana is Scorpio.

She is 5’8” tall, weighing 134 lb or 61 KG. Other information about her body measurements is not available. 

Yana Kunitskaya
Image Source: MMA Mania

Education and Early Life

Yana Kunitskaya was involved in martial arts since her childhood. At the age of 12, she participated in hand-to-hand-combat. She later transferred herself to St. Petersburg when she turned 16. Later, she practiced mixed martial arts along with her high school studies. She was also studying to be a trainer in the university. 

Career 

At 19, she got into the professional Action Force team; in the same year, she had her first professional fight in the Polish city of Lodz at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 tournament against the local MMA star Magda Jarecki. The fight ended in the first round; Yana won by technical knockout. The next fight was held in Russia on November 28, 2009, at the Bushido FC – Legends tournament against the Ukrainian athlete Vlada “IRON LADY” Yavorskaya. The fight ended in the first round; in the 4th minute, Kunitskaya strangled Yavorskaya.

In 2010, Yana was defeated by a decision about with Danish athlete Maria Hougaard Nielsen at the Ice-cold tournament in the Danish city of Odens. In the same year, Yana holds a training camp in Thailand, and at the Fairtex, the stadium holds her first professional fight under the rules of Muay Thai against a Thai athlete. The fight ended with a knockout in the first round. 

On November 20 of the same year, Kunitskaya won the fight at the Bushido FC Hero’s Lithuania 2010 tournament in Vilnius, having won the first round by technical knockout Polish athlete Kamila. “VASABI” Balanda. The main test of his career was the fight at the M-1 Challenge 22 – Narkun vs. Vasilevsky, January 10, 2010.

Yana Kunitskaya’s rival was the Belgian champion Cindy “battlecat” Dandois, who at that time was ranked third in the world rankings and had no defeat (in her debut fight, Cindy won by unanimous decision over the Dutch Marcus Kunen). The referee stopped the fight at the 34th second of the first round, after Yana had an accurate cross on the right, knocking out her opponent. This knockout was voted the best knockout of the evening, and the fight itself was nominated for the Main Upset of the Year in Women’s MMA. Thus, Yana was included in the list of the 10 best fighters of her weight.

Yana Kunitskaya
Image Source: Media Referee

Invicta FC

Soon Yana Kunitskaya signed a contract with the Invicta league, where only girls play. In the first fight, Yana defeated Tonya Evinger and became the champion, but not for long. The losing party filed an appeal, which was approved. The fact is that the judge of that fight did not see the forbidden action on the part of Kunitskaya even before she won. As a result, they decided to repeat the battle. As a result of the fight, Evinger proved to be stronger, carrying out a “submission” in the second round.

After that, Kunitskaya nevertheless regained the title of Invicta, defeating Raquel Paaluhi by unanimous decision.

UFC

On March 4, 2018, at UFC 222, Yana Kunitskaya made her UFC debut in a featherweight title fight against champion Chris Cyborg Justino. Lost by knockout in the 1st round. Defeated Lena Lansberg via unanimous decision at UFC 229 on October 6, 2018.

On March 9, 2019, Yana Kunitskaya fought against 41-year-old American Marion Renault. By the judges’ decision, the victory was awarded to Yana, but she received an injury (nose fracture), which required surgical intervention. 

On December 7, 2019, Kunitskaya was defeated by American Aspen Ladd in the third round when she could not cope with the striking power of Ladd.

On August 8, 2020, Kunitskaya met in the octagon with Lithuania, Yulia Stolyarenko. The fight lasted all 3 allotted rounds, in which the Russian woman had the advantage, which was reflected in the unanimous decision of the judges to give the victory to Kunitskaya.

Records

As per Yana Kunitskaya, she has played 19 major matches where she has 13 wins and 5 losses. She has won seven matches and lost two matches by knockout, one win and two losses by submission, and five wins and one loss by decision.

Yana Kunitskaya
Image Source: Twitter

Awards and Achievements

As an award, she has been “Invicta FC Bantamweight Champion” for once and “Performance of the Night” twice, against Tony Evinger and Raquel Pa’aluhi. 

Some minor awards for her are the 2007 UKADO World Championship, the 2007 Russian Taekwondo championship, the 2010 Bushido Women’s MMA Championship, and the 2011 Russian Muay Thai Championship.

Personal Life

Yana Kunitskaya is in a relationship with the UFC athlete Thiago Santos. They got engaged in the December of 2020. There are rumors that she was pregnant in the year 2012 and even she was married to Hany.  

Net Worth

Yana KUnitskaya is not clear, but it is estimated between $1 million to $5 million.

Social Media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

Yana Kunitskaya has more than 150K followers on Instagram, goes by the name @yanamma and almost 10K followers on Twitter. She is active in both of them. She posts about her tournaments, her daily life, and activities on social media.

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