Athletes - Laura D'Auguste

Home > Listing Index > Athletes > Laura D'Auguste

	Athletes - Laura D'Auguste

Laura D'Auguste is a female mixed martial artist. She initially started practising martial arts to protect herself and her daughter from her husband. She also works as a cardiac nurse.

Biography

D'Auguste's first experience with martial arts came in April 1996; previously, she had taken ballet and modern dance. Her mother signed her up for a Woman's Safe Seminar at Tiger Schulmann's Karate Center, where she learnt basic grab escapes and strikes. This came at a difficult time for the unemployed D'Auguste, who had recently left an abusive marriage, taking a 3 year old daughter along with her. Her escape to New York from Arizona had to be planned carefully; her husband had threatened to kill her if she ever left.

D'Auguste had already spent all her money on child care and nursing school, but knew she needed further self-defence training. Sensei Peter Guzman, an instructor at the school, made an agreement with D'Auguste that she could work off her tuition fees through various chores at the gym; for example, taking calls, mopping the floors and cleaning the locker room. Soon, she was training regularly, eventually earning her 2nd degree black belt and level 2 Joshu.

D'Auguste began competing in MMA in 2000 for the TSK Fight Team, later becoming the top ranked female fighter in the world. Her last fight was a win against Megumi Yabushita at Smack Girl: Dynamic on 17 August 2005.

Career

1st Place Men's Advanced Grappling Division, Challenge of Champions XVII
3rd Place Men's Free Fighting, Challenge of Champions XVII
Ring of Combat Welterweight Champion
Reality Fighting Welterweight Champion
SMACKGIRL Middleweight Champion
1st Place in NAGA Women's Advanced Lightweight, Women's Advances Middleweight and 2nd in Men's Advanced Flyweight.

Footnotes

1. Interview with Natalie Morales, NBC News, 24 August 2005

2. Interview with Natalie Morales, NBC News, 24 August 2005

3. 'From Victim to Victor', Lisa Muñoz, New York Daily News, 17 April 1993

4. 'Faces in the Crowd', Mark Bechtel and Stephen Cannella, Sports Illustrated, 12 September 2005

Sources and See Also

List of female mixed martial artists

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Laura D'Auguste ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Laura D'Auguste; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Searches on eBay