Cristiana Stancu, known in the contact sports world as "Mongol", is a Romanian mixed martial arts (MMA), kickboxing, karate and boxing athlete. Born on July 19, 1991, in Romania, she has distinguished herself in international competitions and has become an iconic figure in contact sports in the country.
Christiana was raised in Bucharest, Romania, born to a professional bowler (mother) and a jujitsu martial artist (father). She made an early start in both martial arts and painting, her second profession, her parents noticing her talents from the age of only three. She began her career in combat sports at the age of 9, while painting in the same complex in the capital, the father of one of her fellow painters being a martial arts coach. She retired from her Kyokushin karate career after 9 years to start developing her Kempo art, and then she started her Kickboxing and MMA career, being the first Romanian woman ever to step into a cage and win an international world title under Igor Vovchanchyn. Cristiana would later also pursue her boxing career.
In 2015 she won the first world kickboxing belt in Romanian history.
She graduated from the Faculty of Theology, Sacred, she paints icons and found the way to harmoniously combine art with sport, aesthetics with ethics, spirit with force, impressing and convincing her interlocutors.
She has always been a vigilante: she often felt the need to stand up for the weakest when she saw them wronged or insulted.
Whether in front of the easel or in the ring, emotions are not lacking. Faith in God and fighting in the ring intrigues many. How can you call yourself a believer when you knock your opponent out? In statements given to various journalists, editors or TV show makers, Cristiana says that "I don't perceive my opponent as an opponent. In the ring, in front of me is just a girl who has worked hard, and I help her to show what she has prepared and she helps me to show what I have prepared. In the end we hug and become friends. In the beginning, in my conscience there was a conflict, a dilemma: would God be okay with my fighting? And I realized that, no matter what we do, there will be a conflict with God in us, we will always wonder whether that thing pleases him or not. But the fight in the ring is totally non-personal, I don't hit an opponent to humiliate her. There is no aggressor and victim in the ring, just two people putting forward an idea."
