Liana Jojua: a Muay Thai base and four wins by armbar
Muay Thai base, four armbars and a 28-second heel hook: how Liana Jojua became the first women's bantamweight champion of Fight Nights Global, what happened in the UFC, and what she is doing now.
Liana Jojua was born on 22 March 1995 in Tbilisi. Her nickname is “She Wolf”, მგელი in Georgian. Her MMA record is 8 wins and 6 losses, and she is one of the few Georgian women to have fought in the UFC.
Where her game comes from
Jojua’s base is Muay Thai. She was drawn to MMA at sixteen by Gina Carano’s fights, turned professional in 2015, and has trained in Grozny, in Las Vegas and, in 2025, with Ray Longo’s team in New York. Outside the gym she trained as a teacher and studied music.
How she finishes
Despite her Muay Thai base, most of her wins came by submission: five of her eight came by submission, and four of those were armbars. The fifth was a heel hook in 28 seconds. In February 2018 she won the first Fight Nights Global women’s bantamweight title in Moscow, beating Marina Mokhnatkina over five rounds.
The UFC and after
She signed with the UFC in 2019 on a five-fight winning streak. Her only UFC win came at flyweight in July 2020: an armbar on Diana Belbita in the first round. After three losses she left the promotion in 2021.
After two years out with an injury and eye surgery, she came back in December 2024 in Tbilisi and stopped Jaqueline Ferreira in the first round at GFC 29. In 2026 she has competed outside MMA: a Karate Combat bout in March, and in September, at Hype Georgia in Tbilisi, a submission-only grappling match against Mushtariy Omonkeldieva, which she won with an armbar. Her favourite finish works without the gloves too.
What someone who trains three times a week can take from it
- Learn one submission from several positions. Jojua didn’t need a long list of techniques. She found the armbar again and again, from different positions.
- Strikers should learn to finish on the ground too. In MMA, connecting striking and grappling creates more ways to attack.
- Come back gradually. Injuries, surgery, time away: she kept coming back. After an injury, rebuild your training step by step and follow your doctor’s and coach’s advice.