Local amateur MMA fighter Irann Orozco is a rising star within the sport

Irann Orozco is an 18-year-old amateur MMA fighter from Desert Hot Springs who is quickly garnering a name for herself after winning her debut, fighting in the King of the Cage Future Legends 50 event.

She came away victorious after putting Emilia Trujillo in an arm bar and winning by submission after two hard-fought rounds.

While this was Orozco's first amateur fight, she was no stranger to martial arts as she's been training since she was 15 years old at Kihon MMA. Kihon MMA is the martial arts school she has attended since she began fighting. The school teaches a variety of fighting styles such as karate, kickboxing, brazilian jiu-jitsu, judo and submission wrestling.

"My mom offered the idea of MMA to me when I was 15, so I found Kihon MMA online, and from then on I was hooked," said Orozco, "I enjoy the process. It's something I want to do for the rest of my life."

Through the rigorous training at Kihon MMA, Orozco was ranked second in the nation in the USFL at 16, which qualified her to represent the U.S. in the Youth MMA World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, when she was 17. She brought home a bronze medal. 

Since her debut win, Orozco was invited to train at Syndicate Gym in Las Vegas, where she trained with multiple UFC fighters over a weekend at the facilities.  

Orozco will continue to train and fight as an amateur MMA fighter, and she does not plan on going professional due to her wanting to pursue a different career.

"I don't necessarily plan on going professional because I want a career in education, and it's very hard to do both," said Orozco. "I'm going to go to school for massage therapy because I want to be massage therapist for athletes."

MMA has brought Orozco more opportunities than just fighting. She also is using her skills to be a stunt woman on the big screen. She auditioned for a role in an upcoming film entitled "Della", which will be a boxing movie..

"I'm working on an audition for a movie that's all about boxing," said Orozco. "I've always wanted to do stunting for mixed martial arts whether that be in movies, commercials, anything of that sort. I did a videotape audition for the part, actually got a call back to go to Hollywood and do a live audition. Hopefully, I'll get the part and have a main role in a movie all about boxing."

Orozco said that the people holding auditions for Della were impressed with her and that they're going to review the work. So for now she's standing by waiting to see if she got the part.