Aya Koyama (小山 亜矢, Koyama Aya, 8 March 1973 – 27 August 2018), better known by her stage name Aliya (亜利弥’), was a Japanese female mixed martial artist and a professional wrestler.[1][2] She started her career as a pro wrestler in 1996 before starting to compete in mixed martial arts from 2001.[3]
Career
She debuted on April 14, 1996 as a professional wrestler with JDStar and later competed for promotions such as All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling and Big Japan Pro Wrestling.[4] In 2001, she took a brief break from professional wrestling to focus in the mixed martial arts. However, she returned to wrestling in 2005 by using the name "Aliya".[5] She wrestled her last match in 2017.
She began competing professionally in MMA from May 2001 and lost her opening match to Anna Kopyrina (on 3 May 2001).[6] She faced disastrous start during her mixed martial arts career by losing her first five consecutive matches and ended her career with 4 wins, 10 losses and 1 draw (4-10-1).[7] She fought her last MMA match while she was battling with level 4 cancer on 10 October 2010 following her comeback to mixed martial arts after six years and lost it to Miki Morifuji.[8]
Death
Aya Koyama died on 27 August 2018 at the age of 45 due to cancer.[9][10][11]
