Joselyne Edwards takes pride in being the first Panamanian in the UFC. Her historical debut at a Fight Night card against Wu Yannan (which she won via a convincing unanimous decision) back in 2021 was the first time a fighter from Panama- male or female- had fought in the UFC.

Gearing up to face fellow unranked women’s 135-pounder Ailin Perez at UFC 302 (to be headlined by Islam Makhachev vs. Dustin Poirier for the lightweight title) on June 1, the 28-year-old is looking to bounce back from a tough loss to Nora Cornelle last year. Ahead of her eighth bout in the UFC, let us take a look at her nationality and ethnic background.

Joselyne Edwards is proud of her Panamanian roots

Joselyne Edwards was born and raised in the capital city of Panama City in the tiny Latin American country of Panama, famous for the canal named after it. With a tiny population of just over 4 million, it is not surprising there have not been any UFC fighters from the twenty-nine thousand sq. mile country other than Edwards. This is remarkable and perhaps another indication of the sport’s truly global reach.

And the bantamweight, who continues to be a Panamanian national, is particularly proud of this. Speaking to the reporters after her successful UFC debut, she expressed her absolute joy at being the first of her compatriots to fly the Panamanian flag in the UFC and the countless people she has inspired.

“It’s something that’s very beautiful, and you feel very excited because I know I made history for my country. I am the first woman to win inside the UFC and the first to be in UFC, so it pushes you to work harder and keep proving. I have many people that look up to me. So it excites you a lot and pushes you to give it your all,” she said. And her MMA journey has been nothing if not her giving her all at every occasion.

‘La Pantera’s journey to becoming a mixed martial artist

Edwards’s martial arts journey, like many, many other UFC fighters, started when she was a child. At the tender age of thirteen, ‘La Pantera’ started training in boxing, which she took to like a fish to water. It was not until she was seventeen that she had her first taste of the then-largely unknown sport of mixed martial arts.

Already four years into boxing, the young woman saw the UFC on television. Immediately intrigued, Edwards would search for a mixed martial arts gym in her city, which was nonexistent. Not one to be discouraged when she had made up her mind, she found the second best thing: a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gym. She joined there and immediately got to work.

Within six months, the Panama City native was ready and decided to take a leap of faith and made her professional debut in 2015. That was the beginning of a remarkable journey not only for ‘La Pantera’ herself, but the whole country of Panama, which for the first time, was represented on MMA’s biggest stage.

Come UFC 302, Edwards has the opportunity to further cement that legacy. Will she?