Under the Bright Lights

By Jason Burgos

Sheena Brandenburg is not looking for your pity. The amateur mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter has been through many tough battles inside and outside of the cage. “Once someone pities you they don’t respect you,” she says.

Brandenburg and her fiancée, Aaron Kirk, had a shared love for MMA. Both planned to become professional combatants and were making their way towards that goal via the amateur fighting circuit. However, on one fateful night in 2011, Kirk went to local pharmacy to pick up antibiotics forBrandenburg, when he was attacked and killed by an assailant hoping to rob what he thought were prescription pills.

“The night I received the news I was actually at a fight of mine,” says Brandenburg. “I still fought.” She lost that night, via technical knockout from a “round-kick to the ribs,” that literally knocked the air out of her. The fight became a metaphor for the way things in life were going for her at that time.

What made the situation all the more difficult was that Brandenburg was diagnosed with thyroid cancer a year and a half before Kirk died. “I was cleared November 11th,” she said. “A few days after Aaron passed away.”

It seemed like life was starting to stack the deck against “Star” (Brandenburg’s MMA nickname). The love of her life was gone and she was now the lone guardian to their two daughters; ages 10 and 8. Her relatives thought it was time to call it quits on her MMA career. “If anything made me ponder quitting, it was my health and family members, who told me I couldn’t possibly be a mother and fight,” she says. “They didn’t support me fighting then.” In the three biggest American MMA promotions featuring female fighters – Ultimate Fighting Championship, Bellator MMA and Invicta Fighting Champion ship – only 22 of the 151 female combatants are mothers. So Brandenburg is in a rare category of being a mother and a MMA fighter.

Nonetheless she powered through this setback like a fighter landing a double-leg takedown. She immersed herself in the couple’s shared passions of their children and competing in MMA. “He passed away in 2011 and I’m just carrying on the dream” she says. Today the 32-year-old Michigan native is fighting in the straw-weight class (115 pounds). The petite mother of two is a dangerous pugilist with a 20 – 1 – 13 amateur record.

Women’s Mixed Martial Arts (WMMA) is a growing division throughout the sport. In 2013 there was a 46 percent jump to 415 women fighting professionally in MMA.

Weekly life for Brandenburg consists of raising her daughters, and working at a mechanic shop for high performance cars. She has also learned the techniques necessary to be an official cut-man (the person who applies hand wraps and treats swelling and other damage that occurs during a professional bout) and is a licensed MMA referee and judge.

She has also kept busy with by helping in the grassroots effort to get amateur MMA legalized in her home state. Currently, Michigan only allows for professional combat sports such and MMA and boxing. However, with House Bill 4220 and Senate Bill 152 that may change.Brandenburg even testified in front of lawmakers in support of the bill.

Because of this, her professional prize fighting aspirations are made that much more difficult since she has had to travel to places like Minnesota, Indiana, Missouri, Wisconsin and Nevada to get sanctioned fights.

She may not get as much time as she would prefer to dedicate to her training. “I’m lucky to get 12 hours a week,” she says. Trying to be both a mother and an active fighter simultaneously is a balancing act even high-wire artist Philippe Petit would find difficult. “Balance is hard,” she says, ”we either wing it or we are extremely organized.”

How do Brandenburg’s children react to the fact that she makes people bleed for sport? “I sheltered my kids from it at first,” she says. “Their first reactions were of being concerned I was hurt, but they understood bruises happen with sports and you can get hurt.” Her daughters sometimes root her on at her fights and are supportive of their mom’s violent vocation.

It was recently found that 27 percent of the viewers watching MMA shows are female. With 51 percent of them likely to have children. Many fans at home can relate to these mothers that take part in the business of fighting. And the work it takes to be a parent and have a career.

Now five years into her campaign to be a prize fighter, Brandenburg is as confident as ever. “Do not pity me, we all have a story that I’m sure isn’t full of rainbows and unicorns. It’s what you do after these experiences that count.” Brandenburg hopes her story resonates with others and that “maybe my strength can help someone else going through something similar.”