At Last: Angie HAyes Comes Full Circle

At Last…

Angela Hayes comes full circle

By CFL Publicity Department

Throughout history the role of the female warrior has been one of mystery. Shrouded in folklore and legend from the Amazonian she-warriors of ancient meso-america to colonial Philippine hero Gabriela Silang the traditional archetype of a female turned fighter has been one of both much allure and debate. For Angela Hayes the time to throwback to an earlier era when femmes took up arms in combat has returned.  After tearing up the full contact fighting scene for years and garnering 11 world titles in the process 34 year old Hayes decided it was time to up the stakes and find a new challenge and turned to Mixed Martial Arts. 

Angela who had trained for years primarily as a striker under the tutelage of Clarence Thatch and Chuck Daly found her early MMA career off to a rocky start tasting defeat at the hands of Jacksons MMA product Julie Kedzie and two others via submission before making the big decision to leave her longtime home at Kongo Do. She knew if she was going to turn her career around that she needed to seek those skilled in the areas that she needed development in and finally found it at decorated grappling academy Roughhouse MMA.  “I love it here,” stated Hayes recently,. “I work with Yamar Resto for Boxing, Pat Cross for Muay Thai and Gabe Charboneau and Donnie Liles for MMA standup, then there’s the ground oh my!, she laughs through her trademark wide grin. “I work with Keith Wilson and Tori Adams on wrestling, and with coach Ben Westritch and my buddy blanket on Jitz, it’s a like a candy store with everything I need to get better!  And get better she has, as she is currently on a 3 fight win streak including her latest victory over highly touted Tuff.n.uff champ Tsui Jen Cunanen. Hayes coming off a bit of a layoff period exhibited ring rust early in the bout, scoring at distance and avoiding the takedown attempts of Cunanen.  Round 2 saw Angela finally began to loosen up and let her hands go and by the third it was clear she was back as she juked, jived and played the angles to counter with hard shots that left her opponent bloody and battered to score the victory.

Hayes has both the skill and star power to make waves in the women’s 125 lb division and will fight anyone, anytime. .  No stranger to the camera she has been featured both on the now defunct Tapout series as well as an all female reality show similar to Spikes “The Ultimate Fighter” She is both actively seeking both sponsors and opponents and feels that much like her hero Etta James once said.. “At last”.. she has come home..