Kenia Enriquez, WBC Women’s Boxing Champion to Make MMA Debut
COMBATE GLOBAL today announced the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) debut of World Boxing Council (WBC) interim world flyweight (112 pounds) champion, Kenia Enriquez (0-0 MMA; 28-1, 11 KO’s).
The 31-year-old Enriquez of Tijuana, B.C., Mexico will enter La Jaula, the COMBATE GLOBAL competition cage, at the previously announced all-women’s live event, ‘Combate Female’, on Thursday, March 13 in Miami.
Enriquez, a three-time professional boxing champion, will square off with undefeated Hayley “Bloody” Valentine (5-0) of London, England in a strawweight (115 pounds) contest.
The bout between Kenia Enriquez and Hayley Valentine will stream live, along with the remainder of the ‘Combate Female’ fight card, on both Combate Global’s Spanish language YouTube channel as well as the promotion’s English language YouTube channel, beginning at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.
Enriquez has been preparing for her much-anticipated debut at Lobo Gym MMA, the famed Guadalajara, Jal., Mexico-based training camp owned by the family of women’s MMA superstar and former world champion, Alexa Grasso.
A 12-year veteran of professional boxing, Enriquez became the WBC interim flyweight champion with a unanimous decision victory over Ibeth Zamora Silva on September 10, 2023.
She successfully defended the title in her last boxing bout on February 3, 2024, defeating Maria Salinas by unanimous decision.
In 2014, Kenia Enriquez became the World Boxing Organization (WBO) world flyweight champion after besting Ana Fabiola Arrazola Dominguez by way of unanimous decision and, in 2017, Enriquez was crowned WBC interim world light flyweight (108 pounds) champion after she scored a third round (1:57) TKO (left hook) on Maria Salinas.
COMBATE GLOBAL is no stranger to introducing professional boxers to MMA competition in La Jaula.
“Following our successful launch of boxing world champion Amanda Serrano’s MMA career, we are excited to begin Kenia’s,” said COMBATE GLOBAL CEO Campbell McLaren.
In April 2018, COMBATE GLOBAL welcomed Serrano to the MMA world.
The Puerto Rican boxing star, in her MMA debut, fought Corina Herrera to a draw and, six months later, showed marked improvement and made history by becoming the first professional boxing champion to earn an MMA victory by submission when she forced Erendira Ordonez to tap out from a standing rear-naked choke in the first round (4:23) at a Combate event in Tucson, Ariz.
COMBATE GLOBAL has also served as a home to undefeated professional boxer and Lucha Libre superstar, Dulce “Sexy Star” Garcia, who reeled off two consecutive MMA wins in 2019.
Enriquez’s opponent, the 28-year-old Valentine, hails from Northampton, England, and will be making her debut at strawweight after competing at atomweight (105 pounds) as well as a catchweight of 110 pounds over the course of her five-fight professional career to date.
Valentine holds a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
On Tuesday, COMBATE GLOBAL announced a new global partnership with YouTube, the world’s leading digital streaming platform, for the MMA promotion’s live events.
COMBATE GLOBAL programming will also still air in Spanish on Univision, which has been the U.S. Spanish-language television home for the promotion since 2018.
The remainder of the ‘Combate Female’ fight card will be announced next week.
