This MMA Fighter Won a Title While 12 Weeks Pregnant

A Brazilian MMA fighter won a title belt earlier this year while three months pregnant — and had no idea until another three months had passed.

Kinberly Novaes said she made the discovery while training for an Aug. 21 fight and struggling to lose weight. She eventually decided to go to the doctor to see what the deal was. “We did a morphology ultrasound last week and the doctor said I’m 24 weeks pregnant, almost six months, and my baby is healthy and strong,” Novaes told MMAFighting.com.

“I was worried because I trained hard, fought, cut weight. I suffered a lot to make weight for my last fight, couldn’t dehydrate properly, and I was already training to fight again next week, but the doctor said everything is fine.”

Counting back, Novaes realized she was 12 weeks pregnant when she won the Noxii 115-pound title on May 17.

An MMA organization in Brazil called Noxii did not test Novaes before her May fight. Promotor Bruno Barros told MMAFighting.com that he did not request the test. “I didn’t even think about the possibility of a woman fighting while pregnant, going through a camp and dehydrating and everything,” he said.

Novaes will not be competing in August.