Melissa Karagianis: “Not very often that professional MMA comes to Toronto”

Melissa Karagianis takes on Claudia Baril at PFC 13 on Sunday, March 8th. It emanates from Rebel Night Club in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Baril has kickboxing experience to her credit and is making her MMA debut here. The prospect is faced with a tough task in the form of Karagianis, a former KOTC and CUFF champion who has also competed on the Rizin circuit. Karagiannis has faced some of the best atomweights and strawweights on the planet. Some quality 115 lb-ers throughout the GTA mixed-martial-arts scene.

PFC

Though things didn’t pan out for Melissa Karagianis’ PFC debut, she is not dissuaded at all. In fact she is quite ecstatic about her Prospect Fighting Championships journey so far. Karagianis said, “I’m liking this opportunity being able to fight local Toronto, Ontario. So that’s really enjoyable. My last fight I really enjoyed working with the promotion and fighting for them.”

Though Melissa Karagianis has had title-winning efforts at both 115 lbs and 105lbs, she definitely has a preferred weight division to compete in. Karagianis stated, “I’m technically an atomweight so I’m moving up in weight again for this fight. I still would like to go back down to atomweight. It’s just hard finding smaller competitors. I’m kind of like in between weight divisions. I feel strong at both weights”

Most of Karagianis’ fights have been international while this prizefight is ten minutes down the street from her house. Karagianis remarked, “It’s awesome. I’m going to have a lot of supporters. A lot of my friends, family, people in Toronto coming to watch the fight. It’s such a good venue as well. Not very often that professional MMA comes to Toronto….Great fight card, a lot of awesome fighters and matchups on this card.”

Melissa Karagianis

Also a hairstylist, Karagianis began teaching her clients who encouraged her and indicated they’d love to learn self-defense from her if Melissa were to ever start a class. Karagianis quipped, “I run the Warrior Women’s Fit Program. It’s out of Kingsway Boxing at their high-performance location. I’ve been running it now for about a year. It’s a mixed-martial arts-inspired workout Bootcamp. So it’s growing and it’s an awesome bunch of ladies that I train.”

Dylan Bowker

I've been enamored with combat sports for as long as I can remember. I've hosted MMA talk shows Lights Out and Pure Fight Radio with featured guests like Jens Pulver, Roy Nelson, Miesha Tate, Mark Coleman, and more. I've been an MMA broadcaster for XFFC as well as BTC and have done play by play commentary on live pay per view on GFL as well as FITE TV. I've provided written, audio, and video content covering some of the biggest MMA promotions like Rumble in the Cage, Unified MMA, and King of the Cage. I've worked as a sports entertainment personality for over five years and given play-by-play or featured promotions of KSW, ONE Championship, TKO, and Invicta FC. My work can be found in the USA Today Sports affiliate MMA Torch, Cageside Press, MMA Sucka, and Liberty Multimedia.

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