Lilly Rodriguez

Lilly Rodriguez, the pioneering female kickboxer whose mother was a professional wrestler and whose father was a boxer, has died. She was 59. Rodriguez died Jan. 13 at UCLA Medical Center of complications following surgery, Michael Matsuda, president of the Martial Arts History Museum and a longtime family friend, told The Associated Press on Monday. In her prime in the 1970s, she was a small but scrappy battler who quickly won over skeptical kickboxing fans by taking on much larger opponents and eventually capturing the women's featherweight championship. She was inducted into the Martial Arts History Museum's Hall of Fame in 2003, one of only a handful of women so honored. In later years, she operated the Heart of Champions gym with her husband, former men's kickboxing champion William "Blinky" Rodriguez.