Svetlana Goundarenko

In December 5, 2000, Goundarenko participated on another tournament, ReMix World Cup. Now fighting without her gi, Goundarenko faced her first opponent, professional wrestler Kyoko Inoue. The judoka dominated the stand-up with judo throws and reversals, while Inoue attempted pro wrestling charges off the ropes and managed to bring Goundarenko down with a single leg takedown, though to no avail. Inoue also gained a yellow card by illegally biting Goundarenko after receiving an ura nage. Svetlana then proceeded to throw her and win by neck crank from kesa-gatame.

Goundarenko had her MMA debut for the Japanese joshi promotion Ladies Legends Pro Wrestling as part of its special tournament L-1 on July 18, 1998, the first ever female mixed martial arts tournament in story. Having an ample size advantage over all the other participants, Svetlana was considered a favourite to win.

Goundarenko returned to LLPW on October 10, 1995 for a rematch against Shinobu Kandori. The judoka threw Shinobu with ura nage and tried to smother her from the back, but the pro wrestler escaped. Then, blocking a hip throw and a kata guruma attempt, Kandori took her back and closed a guillotine choke, forcing Goundarenko into submission for the win. This fight is widely believed to be a work.

In 1991, Goundarenko entered the world of joshi puroresu for Japanese professional wrestling company Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling. Introduced as a monster heel character, she had her debut on September 13, defeating Keiko Iwami and Rie Nakamura in a handicap match, and kept winning matches through the month in both singles and handicap matches. Goundarenko also had an appearance FMW 2nd Anniversary Show on September 23, defeating native star Megumi Kudo by armbar in a "Different Style Fight". After a brief alliance with Kudo against Erika Tsuchiya and Combat Toyoda, Goundarenko formed a tag team with Chris Cruise Christopher, continuing her winning streak into December. She had her final match for FMW on May 24, 1992, the streak finally broken by Toyoda.

She competed at the 1989 World Judo Championships in +72kg, ending up at the fifth position. In 1992, she won the European Championships, but her tenure in the 1992 Summer Olympics was less fortunate, losing by ouchi gari to Nathalie Lupino in quarter-finals and to Beata Maksymow by koka in the reserve match, thus ending at seventh place. Next year she ended third in the World Championships, but she came back by winning the Russian championship in 1994. 1995 seemed to be a similarly successful year, as Goundarenko won the European Champioships again, but was fifth in the World Championships. She retired in 1999, when she married, opened a pub and became a judo coach and a plus-size model.

Svetlana Goundarenko (born June 23, 1969) is a Russian judoka, professional wrestler and mixed martial artist, known by her career in Japan. A pioneer of female MMA, she has been considered by pundits one of its earliest top fighters.