Hannette Staack remains one of only two women to ever earn the title of ADCC Double Champion and over a decade after that feat, she’s now preparing for her MMA debut. Not just that of course, but the legend of women’s BJJ has also won a total of six IBJJF World Championships both in and out of the gi. If anyone can turn back the clock and put in a dominating performance in an MMA fight late in life, Staack is the woman to do it.
Hannette Staack sat down with MMAFighting and spoke to them about what pushed her to consider making her MMA debut when she’s only a few weeks shy of her 42nd birthday: “I wanted to do something to challenge myself. Since I already have a few titles in jiu-jitsu, no-gi and the ADCC, I didn’t see much sense in entering more tournaments, except for superfights. I came to Brazil to train with a friend and this possibility was presented to me.”
Staack has reportedly already spoke with Nova Uniao head coach Andre Pederneiras about preparing for her first MMA bout and he’s offered her a spot on a future Shooto Brasil card: “Something that I’ve always wanted to do but women’s MMA wasn’t so popular back then. Life has taken me to a different path of education, building a gym and having students, but after doing a lot of thinking, I saw it was a good challenge.”
“That’s exactly what I want, to challenge myself in a different form, so I thought of doing one MMA fight this year. I need to work on my boxing and kickboxing, so I’ll focus on that. Not that I’m going to change my characteristics, but I’ll train to become more complete as a fighter.”
