The buzzer sounds and Lisa Bauthong Holtz drops into a crouched stance. Bouncing from one foot to the other, she lifts her gloved hands toward her face.
Standing across from sparring partner Melissa Amaya, the 23-year-old Holtz throws a light punch. Amaya bobs to avoid the hit before returning the move, but Holtz darts out of the way before resetting her stance. The pair continue to trade strikes — some find their target, others are deflected. Practice has just begun, but Holtz is sweating, her braided hair coming loose in wisps.
The exchange continues until the buzzer sounds again, marking the end of the five-minute round. The pair tap gloves before moving on to new partners, the process repeating for the next hour.
Eventually, coach Rick Little tells everyone to grab water. When asked how she's feeling, Holtz gives a big smile and says, "Good!"
Holtz practices at Sik-Jitsu in Spokane's far northeast corner four times a week. She's fought twice — one win, one loss — and is preparing for her third match during the July 13 Conquest of the Cage at Northern Quest Resort and Casino, organized by Little and his company, Excitefight.
A younger Holtz would be surprised to find herself at Sik-Jitsu, but today Holtz knows she's meant to be here.
Originally from Rhode Island, Holtz grew up trying athletic and artistic endeavors like gymnastics, hockey, track, flute, violin and piano, yet never sticking to any pursuit. As she got older, she realized if she wanted to reach her full potential she had to get out of Rhode Island.
"No offense to people there, but it's a little close-minded," she says. "A lot of people don't venture out or try to see how the world operates... I felt like I had a purpose in life, and I wasn't going to go far anywhere in Rhode Island."
Holtz and her then-boyfriend moved to Florida, then Colorado, then Nevada and finally Spokane in August 2020 after COVID derailed their plans to move to Vietnam.
Though her former partner had been training in mixed martial arts — MMA for short — Holtz didn't feel confident enough to try it. After feeling she wasn't active enough, though, she started conditioning.
In August 2022, the pair traveled to Mexico. That November, Holtz took her first class at Maranatha, a kickboxing and Brazilian jiu-jitsu gym in Mexicali. Those early sessions were awkward for Holtz, who didn't know what to do when grappling with someone, but she learned to love it.
"Before I left Mexico, I already had in my mind that I wanted to be a fighter," she says. "I wanted to go full time with this."
After two months of training in Mexico, the pair returned to Spokane in January 2023 with their sights set on Sik-Jitsu.
"I was still fresh with MMA so it was pretty intimidating coming here, but I knew by coming here I would advance pretty fast," Holtz says.
Holtz is in great company at Sik-Jitsu, home to professional fighters like her sparring partner Amaya, as well as Juliana Miller, Michael Chiesa, Brady Hiestand and Ashton Charlton. Star athletes in the sport Julianna Peña (former UFC women's bantamweight champion), Sam Sicilia and Austin Arnett also trained at Sik-Jitsu.
Coach Little, who opened Sik-Jitsu in 2008, isn't ashamed to answer "me" when asked why so many top fighters come out of Sik-Jitsu.
"I know what the f--k I'm doing," he says. "Most people don't know what they're doing. It's like having a good builder that can build houses and once they get a system and they know what they're doing, they build these beautiful houses."
Little's interest in MMA began in 1995 when he watched an ad for ultimate fighting. After seeing the bulkier fighters, Little laughed when a smaller contender entered the ring.
"This guy was my size," he says. "I was like 'This karate kid's going to get smoked.'"
Little watched in amazement as the smaller fighter won simply by grappling and taking the bigger fighter to the ground.
"It turned me upside down and made me feel like a badass," he says. "I was like 'I can do this.'"
Even so, it took Little three years to enter the ring. First, he used his college savings to move to Torrance, California, and train with renowned fighter Royce Gracie of the Gracie jiu-jitsu family.
Little trained with Gracie for a year before returning to Spokane. He fought five times, winning four, but hated each experience because event promoters were more concerned with making money than with fighters' safety.
Feeling confident in the base he built with Gracie and not wanting to work with what he calls "scumbag" promoters, Little started Sik-Jitsu gym and Excitefight, the latter of which hosts fights at casinos nationwide.
"I have a system that cuts the BS and everybody that's attracted to the system — the Julianas, the Melissas, the Lisas — why they're good is because they know they're not getting any YouTube moves," Little says. "I can show them some fancy stuff, but if Lisa's fighting a real bitch that's really trying to hurt her, that fancy shit's not going to work. What I like about the athletes I have, they're not looking for those shortcut moves."
Little's intensity brought the undefeated Melissa Amaya to Sik-Jitsu four years ago.
"It's not your traditional gym," she says. "It's just people grinding in a garage. There's no farce here. People here grind."
Miller, meanwhile, came to Sik-Jitsu a year and a half ago after winning Season 30 of The Ultimate Fighter, for which Little coached with Team Peña in 2022. Miller entered the sport after an abusive partner hurt her, vowing, "No one will ever touch me like this again." After years of hard work, Miller earned her UFC contract.
"That's one of the good things about this gym is the opportunity to work with pro fighters as an amateur," Holtz says.
Both Amaya and Miller say they've noticed Holtz's growth during her time at Sik-Jitsu. Amaya likens each fight to a traumatic experience your body remembers, saying a fighter is changed after each match.
"You get to decide if it's for better or for worse, and I feel like Lisa's used everything she's learned and she's constantly growing, which is really cool to watch," Amaya says.
Holtz's debut bout was against Marcelina Zacarias in November 2023 at Northern Quest. Holtz won by submission in the first round.
"I'm glad I won, but it was way too fast, because I had worked so hard to improve my skills," she says.
Still, Holtz enjoyed the bout of extroversion she experienced in the ring.
"I felt more like myself or what I would want myself to be," she says.
In February, Holtz was back at Northern Quest, fighting Nataliya Kharkavaya. She felt calm stepping into the cage but knew it was going to be a tough fight.
Holtz held her own against the more experienced Kharkavaya for nearly three minutes. After a good scramble, Holtz, who was fighting with a hyperextended elbow, had to tap out when Kharkavaya managed to get her in an arm-bar.
"I wasn't really worried about the loss," she says. "When you're doing so much work before a fight and then you have nothing else to look forward to, that was the main thing I was struggling with, just being consistent afterwards."
Rehabbing her elbow, then dealing with a sprained ankle and work commitments led to a delay in fights, but Holtz is ready for her return.
"As shy as Lisa is, I think there's a part deep down that is so ready for the spotlight," Miller says. "She's completely unafraid to go for it."
Back on the mat, Holtz is now working with Miller. They start with shadow sparring. Holtz smiles when Miller accidentally makes contact with her forehead.
At the buzzer, Little tells the group to jab and squat on their own.
"Activate that back leg," he says. "If you can't activate it now, you can't activate it when someone's trying to kick your ass."
Holtz and Miller spend the rest of practice working on getting out of being pinned against the wall and taking their opponent down. At the end of the session, Holtz seems tired but happy.
Days before the event, it's unclear if she'll fight at the July 13 Conquest of the Cage, as there aren't many eligible female fighters willing to travel to the area, but Little hopes to get Holtz on the card.
Always positive, Holtz says she won't be upset if she has to wait to fight.
"I'm not mad about it," she says. "I feel like that's how it is when it comes to girl fights. There's not too many girls in this area that are at my experience, so I'll just keep training and learning, basically just improving until we find someone else."
Spoken like a true champ. ♦
Conquest of the Cage • Sat, July 13 at 7 pm • $49-$149 • All ages • Northern Quest Resort and Casino • 100 N. Hayford Road, Airway Heights • northernquest.com
Update, July 12 at 10:15 am: Lisa Holtz will not be participating in Conquest of the Cage due to a lack of an opponent. Instead, she is traveling to South Dakota for Fighting Force Championships at the Fort Randall Casino Hotel on July 13.
