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Rylie 'Coyote' Marchand is back to her winning ways.
The Brazilian jiu jitsu and mixed martial arts phenom recently travelled to Texas where she won gold against some of the best grapplers in North America.
Raja Kler, of Unity MMA, has been coaching the 20-year-old Marchand for more than a decade and was excited to see his student back on the mats.
But because of Canadian COVID restrictions, Kler could not go with Marchand to coach at the grappling event.
“She went all the way to Texas by herself and got a gold medal,” said Kler. “It was an invitation-only event. They invited all of these really high-level girls from all over the United States and she won it. There were some nationally ranked competitors that she beat.”
Marchand, a member of the Okanagan Indian Band, was making a name for herself in the MMA scene – and then COVID hit and essentially shut down the world.
Prior to COVID, Marchand moved to Albuquerque, NM, where she could broaden her experience and have more people to train with, but returned to the Okanagan after COVID hit.
Kler said Marchand now has her sights set on some amateur MMA fights this year.
“Next year, she wants to take it to the next level,” said Kler.
The pinnacle of the MMA world is the UFC which has a strong - and popular - women's division.
“We will take it one step at a time,” Kler said of the move to the big leagues.
Marchand is expected to return to Vernon over the next few days.
She was the youngest woman in Canada to hold the Canadian MMA Bantamweight amateur champion title.
“I used to do ballet, but my brother won a pass to try out boxing and MMA and I went with him,” she said in a 2020 interview, adding she was quickly hooked on combat sports.
Marchand said being in the ring is where she feels the “most calm, where I feel at home. There is no place in the world more comfortable to me than in the ring. I’m in a whole other state when I’m fighting.”
