Kelsey Leta - Armored Cage Fighting and the Pursuit of Gender Inclusivity
A spotlight cuts through Nashville Municipal Auditorium as an armored figure walks to the center of the stage. Over the roar of the crowd a booming voice announces, ‘Kelsey the Killer Leta!’
After months of planning, Kelsey Leta emerges not as a business owner or a coach but as a fighter. For Leta, entering the cage is not only about defending her reputation as a professional athlete. In one of the few female matches of the night, Leta is fighting to prove femme competitors have a place in Armored Combat and they’re not going anywhere.
Armored combat is an intense sport on the fringe of competitive fighting. Blending martial arts with medieval techniques, fighters brutally face off in the ring with an array of weapons and full suits of armor. Though there is already a global following, the sport is quickly gaining popularity and in Tennessee, Kelsey Leta is making sure everyone is welcome.
“There are extremely talented femme fighters and male fighters all over the world. We just have a very unique community in Nashville,” Leta says. “We never quit. We always show up. We come to win, but we're okay when we lose.”
Beyond training, competing, and running a business, Leta has made it her mission to increase gender representation in armored combat and create a home for fighters of all identities.
“It's important to have that diversity because there are so many women and femme fighters in the sport and if they're putting in the work, they deserve that space.”
Just around the corner from Nashville's Grand Ole Opry, Kelsey Leta and her business partner Mickey Gallus own and operate Nashville Armored Combat. For the past three years, their gym has served as a hub for armored fighters to train and gather as a growing community. Extending beyond Central Tennessee, Leta and Gallus have built one of the most established armored combat organizations in America, AMMA (Armored Mixed Martial Arts.) Since AMMA began hosting their tournaments in downtown Nashville in early 2024, their online following has increased by over 600 thousand, cementing their global recognition and drawing in competitors from all over the world.
“The whole reason we started Nashville Armored Combat, and the reason that we focused so much on Armored MMA, is because we just decided we don't like the way other people are doing it,” Leta says. “We don't like the exclusivity. We don't like how gatekeeping people are. We don't like how they treat their femme fighters or trans fighters or non binary fighters. There's not always a space for them, and we didn't like that.”
Though everyone is welcome, Leta makes known the level of commitment it takes to be successful in the ring. She pushes her fighters to their limits and in doing so, has helped produce highly competitive athletes throughout central Tennessee.
“This sport needs you exactly where you are.” Leta says. “It's very patient with you but it's going to teach you a lot about yourself and things that you're probably not ready to learn. It's almost like a living thing that just brings you in, gives you a home and if you're lucky, you find good people to help you along that journey.”