She’s a captain in the 101st Airborne Division‘s 2nd Brigade Combat Team. She is also the Screaming Eagles’ newest bantamweight combatives champ.
Capt. Michelle LaForest submitted her opponent on Wednesday during the Week of the Eagles Combatives Tournament, making her the first woman to win in her weight class at a post-level tournament.
Credit: Fort Campbell Courier
Nearly 90 soldiers competed in the combatives tournament here at the Sabre Army Heliport hangar Fort Campbell, Ky., according to the Fort Campbell Courier. As the soldiers progressed through the various rounds, only 32 remained to fight in the finals, which allows striking and is not much different from a mixed martial arts fight you’d catch on TV.
The Fort Campbell Courier dubbed LaForest’s fight the tournament’s Cinderella story, drawing loud, boisterous cheers when she submitted her opponent with an arm bar.
“As a female, I feel like we’re representing,” LaForest told the Courier. “I’m really happy because a female won.”
LaForest, who belongs to the 526th Brigade Support Battalion, is no stranger to Army combatives. She placed second in the flyweight division during the 2009 Week of the Eagles combatives tournament.
Soldier from 2nd BCT won the overall team title with 215 points, followed by 1st BCT and then 3rd BCT, according to the Courier.
