When Marina Shafir walks out of the tunnel, it’s not to pop the crowd. It’s not to sell shirts. It’s to make someone uncomfortable, preferably her opponent, sometimes the camera guy. Maybe even Tony Khan. Shafir doesn’t beam. She doesn’t play nice. She shows up, stares holes through you, and reminds you what a real fight actually feels like.
This is not a woman who learned to wrestle to be adored. This is a woman who learned to wrestle because she ran out of people to choke in judo class.
From Moldova With Love (and Armbar Chokes)
Born in Moldova on April 14, 1988, Marina Șafir wasn’t raised to be soft. Her family uprooted to Latham, New York, where her father fixed cars, her mother taught school, and Marina trained in judo from the age of six. By 12, she was competing. By 16, she was breaking arms on instinct.
She earned her scars and her emotional distance in the dojo, then carried it into the octagon—first as an amateur (a terrifying 5–0 run of first-round submissions), then as a professional where reality hit: the other girls were tough too. Amanda Bell put her lights out. Amber Leibrock reminded her the sport has no soft landings.
So she pivoted. To wrestling. Because pain is pain, and Marina Shafir was always going to weaponize it.
WWE: The Undercard Assassin
Signed to WWE in 2018, Shafir became part of a faction that read like the casting call for a real-life female Expendables: Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke, and Ronda Rousey. Together, they were the Four Horsewomen of MMA—and only Shafir seemed like she actually enjoyed hurting people. She played enforcer to Baszler, interfering in matches like a silent sniper, choking out whoever had the misfortune to be “in the way.”
In the ring? She was unpolished, unpredictable—and impossible to ignore.
Still, WWE had no idea what to do with a woman who wrestled like she was still fighting for food. She was released in June 2021, but Marina? She wasn’t done. She was just off the leash.
Bloodsport and the Indie Kill List
From the ashes of Stamford’s reject pile came a monster in black shorts.
Shafir debuted at Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport, which is basically Fight Club for people who don’t believe in rope breaks. She snapped Masha Slamovich, Zeda Zhang, Killer Kelly, and Janai Kai, all by submission. No theatrics. No flips. Just violent geometry and the kind of joint manipulation that would make a chiropractor pass out.
In 2024, she won the Bloodsport X tournament, battering her way through the bracket like a woman offended by the concept of cartilage.
Oh, and she picked up a little hardware too—the DEFY Women’s Championship—because even assassins like to decorate the kill room.
AEW & ROH: The Death Riders’ Secret Weapon
Shafir drifted into AEW like smoke—appearing on Dark, stacking up wins, and scaring the daylight out of camera crews. She challenged Jade Cargill, Thunder Rosa, and Athena, and while she didn’t win the titles, she always left a mark.
In 2022, she was paired with Nyla Rose in a tag team called The Beasts of Burden—because AEW was finally beginning to understand what they had on their hands: a bludgeoning instrument in grappler form.
But it wasn’t until August 28, 2024, that the full potential of Marina Shafir was weaponized. That night, she aligned with Jon Moxley, bringing her quiet chaos to the Blackpool Combat Club, which soon rebranded as the Death Riders.
Now she’s not just a grappler. She’s the one carrying the briefcase that holds the AEW World Championship when Moxley doesn’t want to bother with it. And God help the man who tries to steal it.
The Woman Behind the Guillotine Grip
Off-screen, Marina Shafir is a wife, a mother, and—shockingly—a human being. Married to Roderick Strong, mother to their child since 2017, and once part of that terrifying Venice Beach household that included Rousey, Duke, and Baszler, Shafir has always been surrounded by people who consider bruises a form of affection.
She’s Jewish, Moldovan, and about as sentimental as a kettlebell.
Legacy in the Making: Still Dangerous, Still Underrated
Shafir might not have the titles (yet). But you ask the locker rooms of AEW, ROH, or Bloodsport, and you’ll hear the same thing:
“If Marina’s across the ring from you, she’s not here to entertain. She’s here to dissect.”
There’s no smile. No wink. Just a face like a tombstone and hands that can turn vertebrae into soup.
And if the Death Riders keep marching toward domination, don’t be surprised if Shafir is the one who pins the last hero standing.
Marina Shafir: The Stats
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Professional MMA Record: 1–2
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Amateur MMA: 5–0 (All submissions)
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Bloodsport X Tournament Champion (2024)
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DEFY Women’s Champion (2024–present)
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AEW’s Most Terrifying Human Backpack
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First and only Moldovan to wrestle for WWE
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Mother of one, destroyer of many