Marina Shafir
Marina Shafir (Moldovan Cyrillic: Марина Шафир; born 14 April 1988) is a Moldovan professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist. She is best known for her time in WWE. She formerly competed for Invicta Fighting Championships in the women's featherweight division. Shafir was the first and only Moldovan to ever compete in the WWE ring. Early life. Shafir moved from Moldova to the United States when she was five years old. Her father, a mechanic, and her mother, a teacher, settled in New York along with Marina and her two older brothers. Shafir began training judo when  she was six years old and started competing at a high level in the sport when she was 12. However, she stopped competing in judo in her late teens. Mixed martial arts career. Shafir began her mixed martial career at an amateur level in 2012. In a two year spell, she was unbeaten, winning all five of her matches by submission (four by armbar and one by arm-triangle choke). She turned professional in early 2014. Shafir's first professional fight was against Chandra Engel on April 12, 2014, where she won by submission in the first round. Later that  year, Shafir suffered her first-ever loss in a first-round defeat to Amanda Bell. The following year, she signed with Invicta Fighting Championships. Her first match in the Invicta promotion was against Amber Leibrock on July 9, 2015, which was Leibrock's first professional fight. Shafir was defeated in the first round. Professional wrestling career. WWE (2018-2021). On May 7, 2018, WWE announced that Shafir, along with Jessamyn Duke, had signed with WWE and reported to their Performance Center for training. On October 28 at WWE Evolution, Shafir and Duke made their WWE debuts as heels when they  interfered during the NXT Women's Championship match, in which they helped Shayna Baszler regain the title over Kairi Sane. They made another appearance at , when they interfered during Baszler and Sane's two out of three falls match, in which Baszler scored the first fall and the victory in the latter to retain the title. On the December 19, 2018 episode of "NXT", Shafir and Duke made their NXT in ring debut, but were defeated by Io Shirai and Dakota Kai, when Shirai pinned Shafir after a moonsault. At , Shafir and Duke assisted Baszler in retaining the title against  Bianca Belair. In October 2019, Duke and Shafir were defeated by Kai and Tegan Nox in a number one contender's match for the Women's Tag Team Championship. After several months of inactivity, Shafir returned to WWE TV on August 17, 2020, reuniting with Baszler and Duke, and winning a "Raw Underground" match. On June 25, 2021, Shafir was released from her WWE contract. Independent Circuit. On October 22, 2021, she defeated Masha Slamovich at Game Changer Wrestling Josh Barnett's Bloodsport 7. On the November 13, 2021 episode (taped October 7, 2021) of UWN Primetime Live Championship Wrestling  from Georgia, she defeated Nightmare Factory alum, Brooke Havok. All Elite Wrestling. On December 14, 2021, she debuted on All Elite Wrestling (AEW), her first match was a loss to Kris Statlander, but has since appeared on AEW Dark and AEW Dynamite with winning encounters. Personal life. Shafir is a close friend of Ronda Rousey, who trained with her at Glendale Fighting Club, and had a similar background in judo. They lived together for a number of years in Venice, California, along with Shayna Baszler and Jessamyn Duke. In December 2015, Shafir got engaged to professional wrestler Christopher Lindsey, better  known as Roderick Strong. On April 24, 2017, Shafir gave birth to their first child, Troy Veniamin Lindsey. The two were married on November 7, 2018. Shafir is Jewish.