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Tara LaRosa's Interests
General
MMA (aka Ultimate Fighting), BJJ, grappling, Texas Hold'em, camping, chess, cooking, paintballin', going out with friends, and spending as much time as possible outside. Traveling, training, tournaments... (NAGA!). I like goin' home to see my parents and family in NJ. Field Hockey, I played for 12 years.
Music
Linkin Park, Fort Minor, Rihanna, Evanescence, Green Day, Marilyn Manson, Natasha Beddingfield, Kelly Clarkson, Sean Paul, Ying Yang Twins, Daddy Yankee, Black Eyed Peas, Harvey Danger, Chumbawumba, House of Pain, Everlast, May J., Mystikal, Nelly, 50 Cent, Christina Aguilera, DMX, T.I., Lil John
Craig Morgan, Brad Paisley, Alabama, Alan Jackson, Charlie Daniels, Garth Brooks, George Straight, Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, Toby Keith, Willie!, Travis Tritt, Clint Black, John Denver, Brooks & Dunn, Gretchen Wilson, Little Big Town, Gordon Lightfoot, Carrie Underwood, Lee Greenwood
In my car, in the shower, in my room, training or up in the ring.....I'M ALWAYS ROCKIN'OUT.
Movies
So many!: Jet Li's Fearless, Blood Diamond, The Departed, The Hunted, Boondock Saints, Red Eye, V for Vendetta, The Notebook, Transporter, The Waterboy, Half Baked, Rundown, Walking Tall, Friday Night Lights, Vision Quest (classic!), Tomb Raider, Dazed and Confused, Half Baked, Rounders, The Goonies, Napolean Dynamite, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Dogma, all the 80's Chuck Norris movies... and Steven Seagal... and Van Damme. Rambo, Platoon, Tour of Duty, Born on the 4th of July, Good Morning Vietnam, Tears of the Sun, Uncommon Valor, Hamburger Hill, Full Metal Jacket, Apocalypse Now.
...and of course The Godfather.
Television
BodogFIGHT, The Ultimate Fighter, Unleashed, Bill O'Reilly, The Mind of Mencia, Top Chef, The History Channel, MXC, South Park, Discovery Channel
You can see my fights against Amanda Buckner, Julia Berezikova, Shayna Baszler and Kelly Kobold at: www.bodoglife.net Season 1, episode 3: season 4 episode 3: USA vs Russia show, and season 5 BodogFIGHT NJ.
Books
A Fighters Heart -Sam Sheridan, Lil' Evil -Jens Pulver, Cookbooks. The DaVinci Code and Angels & Demons -Dan Brown, The Harry Potter series, Pat Conroy, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Instructionals: Royce Gracie, Renzo and Royler Gracie, The Machado bros., Eddie Bravo's Mastering the Rubber Guard and The Twister H2H Combatives -Greg Thompson
About me: I grew up on a farm in a small town in south Jersey. I played field hockey, basketball and softball in grade school and high school. I played field hockey for Catawba College in Salisbury, NC (96-2000). In college I also trained and competed in judo, thats where it all started. From judo, I went on to competeing in jiu-jitsu and submission grappling tournaments. This shortly accelerated to training in MMA (Mixed Martial Arts), or Ultimate Fighting.
I began training in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and Muay Thai kickboxing in Sept. '01 at Team ROC. (www.TeamROC.net) We are a Royce Gracie affiliated school. The head instructor is Greg Thompson, a black belt under Royce. Our next highest ranking instructor is Aitor "Spenser" Canup, a brown belt, and my main instructor. LOL... blame Spenser, he built me.
I recieved my purple belt in Oct. '05 from Royce Gracie, and was brought on as an assistant instructor at Team ROC Fayetteville, in NC. During my time in Fayetteville I also taught Modern Army Combatives. I'm level 2 certified. I really have to thank Greg for everything he has done for me, if not for him and Spencer, I'd probably be running the family business selling flowers.
In April 2006 I moved to the Pacific Northwest to concentrate on my MMA career. I trained and fought out of Yakima MMA in Yakima, Wa, owned by Rich Guerin. I want to thank Rich and his wife Julie for everything they did for me over the year that I stayed out there.
One year later in Mar/April 2007 I moved again, this time to Boca Raton, Fla, where I would train for 6 months at Charles McCarthy's ATT affiliated school. This move was to be temporary, while my boyfriend SFC Adrian Elizalde, was deployed in Iraq. When he came home, I would go back to Washington with him.
My boyfriend, SFC Adrian M Elizalde was killed when an IED hit his truck on Thursday August, 23rd 2007 in Al Aziziyah, Iraq. He was 30 years old.
September of 2007, I decided to come home. I knew there was a really good MMA team up the road in Philadelphia coached and lead by Steven Haigh, that had produced Eddie Alvarez, who also fights for BodogFIGHT. Adrian had even encouraged me to check them out whenever I came back.
So now I am happy to say that Philadelphia Fight Factory is my new team, Steven Haigh is my coach and I am proud as hell to represent them.
Everybody fasten your seatbelts and grab the 'oh shit bar,' cuz this ride's not even close to stopping! Thankyou to everyone who has supported me along the way thus far, I am eternally greatful.
~Tara LaRosa
You will live here forever. You are sooooo South Jersey. Its ok, most people don't move farther than a few miles from home. Go you! You spend your days at the Wawa or down the shore. You think you get ripped off by North Jersey and they give you a bad name! Congratulations!
Just bought you! I own you like your gonna own Gina. lol Bye the way, all of the pics that I took at the Jitsu tourny in Puyallup didn't turn out at all. None of them. Still an honor to meet you there. Go kick some ass! Ryan.
Holly CRAP! I just read your article on yahoo sports. Congratulations, I'm so proud to call you a friend and have had an opportunity to have trained with you. Keep up the awesome work, and Heather and I will be keeping an eye on your achievemnts.
IS THERE ANYTHING U COULD TELL ME TO HELP ME OUT IN MY FIGHT'S. MY CARDIO IS GOOD. BUT I'M SHORT AND I HAVE TO FIGHT TALL PEOPLE. I KNOW I NEED TO WORK ON MY BOXING. IF U DON'T HAVE TIME I UNDERSTAND. THANKS ANYWAYS!!! GOD BLESS YA!!!
Hi Tara. Thanks for adding me. Glad you are my friend:) It was super cool to meet you. I really really wanna come see your next fight so I hope that it is close! I'm training real hard so that someday I can be as tough as you!
