Social media has erupted after a 68-year-old grandmother was systematically knocked out by a professional fighter less than half her age in a violent mixed martial arts cage match sanctioned by an MMA league.
A somewhat disturbing video of the fight last Saturday has sparked controversy on social media where commentators have called for the Colorado-based Sparta Combat League to be banned.
Ann Perez de Tejada, already three years into collecting social security, was making her MMA debut against an opponent, 24-year-old Laura "The Honey Badger" Dettman.
Before the match, Dettman, who now has three wins and no losses, says she expected a "tough fight" against a "tough opponent" who was almost three times her age.
"I plan to have a good hard fight, put on a good show for people and show everybody that age is just a number," countered the sexagenarian.
In a statement on Facebook, Jeff Cisneros, Sparta Combat League's promoter, defended the decision to book the fight.
"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," said Cisneros.
"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."
And while it's easy to discourage this kind of matchup, Perez signed on to it and, thankfully, wasn't injured.
Maybe they should call her GrandMaMA.
Maybe they should call her GrandMaMA.
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