Markos is one step closer to being the UFC champ

By Shaun Garrity

Mixed Martial Arts- You can punch, kick, elbow, slam and choke. Randa Markos did all that and more by tapping her opponent out from an arm-bar submission last Wednesday.

Not in your wildest dreams imagine a small framed 115 pound woman is capable of breaking limbs and fighting in a cage for hour at a time.

Markos is competing in the Ultimate Fighter reality show and this year is unique for contestants. This marks the TUF 20 and the first time the UFC is crowning a champion at the end of the season.

Usually whoever wins TUF receives a fight contract and starts their journey in the UFC, never is there a world title handed to the winner.

Randa Markos, 29, from Windsor, won her second fight on Nov. 19, to be the top four finalist on the reality fighting show. The experienced wrestler and ju-jitsu practitioner Markos tapped out Felice Herrig in the first round from a technical arm-bar to move a step closer to the championship.

“Hard work pays I started off just wrestling in high school and I believed in myself I knew could take it further I continued on with my ju-jitsu,” says Markos.

“I fell in love with Ju-jitsu.”

Markos ground game and jui-jitsu is believed to be the best out all the females on TUF.

She said she learned most of her grappling techniques from well-known Windsor coach Phil Navarro and Toan Lam, both are brown belts in Judo. Navarro also is a brown belt in Ju-jitsu and Lam is purple belt.

Markos has showcased her grappling countless times on the show through takedowns, clinches and submissions.

“She’s like a sponge,”

UFC lightweight, Daron Cruickshank, 29, says Markos is one of the best in the world and the girls on the show underestimated her because she was ranked lower in the beginning.

“Now people know who she is and she’s destroying people,” said Cruickshank.

The number 14th ranked Markos has knocked off the third seed along with the seventh seed and is one fight away from fighting for the strawweight title.

This year has been a roller-coaster ride said Markos, another person who is feeling the stress is her husband. Jeff, Thomas , 29, said it is difficult time being away from his wife for months. Thomas fought amateur a few years prior and he knows what she is going through.

“It’s nerve racking, I don’t like to see my wife get punched,” said Thomas.

The season finale is in Las Vegas Dec. 12 and if Markos can keep the winning with submission finishes like the last show, Windsor might witness the evolution of a new UFC champion.