[6] She holds wins over top mixed martial arts fighters such as Amanda Buckner, Kelly Kobold, Shayna Baszler, Alexis Davis, Julie Kedzie, Sally Krumdiack and Takayo Hashi.
[8] Starting in April 2007, she trained out of Charles McCarthy's American Top Team affiliate for 6 months in Boca Raton.
[8] In September 2007 she joined the Philadelphia Fight Factory and trained with fighters like Zach Makovsky and Eddie Alvarez.
[11] A love of Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal and Chuck Norris action films inspired her to enroll in judo.
LaRosa won when she hurt Wilson with a right knee, obtained full mount on the ground and unleashed punches, which resulted in a TKO win at 4:59 in round 1.
[16] With weeks notice LaRosa replaced Howe's original opponent and competed for the vacant HooknShoot flyweight title.
[19] LaRosa signed with BodogFight and debut against then #2 ranked Amanda Buckner in a highly touted 3 round battle in Costa Rica.
[22] On another card in Costa Rica, LaRosa earned a dominant technical knockout win over Shayna Baszler.
The upstart AFL had also acquired Bobby Lashley, Mike Van Arsdale, Julie Kedzie and Roxanne Modafferi.
[26] Her contract with the AFL was a lucrative one for a duration of 18 months, which would have made her the highest paid female fighter in MMA.
[27] Her signing was officially announced at an AFL event on May 30, 2008 with plans to have her fight on the promotion's first pay per view card that fall.
[9] LaRosa returned to MMA competition after a 14-month absence to face Alexis Davis at Extreme Challenge: The War at the Shore on January 23, 2009.
[16] LaRosa faced Takayo Hashi at DaMMAge Fight League 1 on November 24, 2010 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
[4] She defeated Hashi by Unanimous Decision after five rounds to become the first DaMMAge Fight League Women's 125 lbs Champion.
[37] The bout was made with two weeks' notice after a co-main event match between Houston Alexander and James Irvin was cancelled.
[46] On September 29, 2013, LaRosa faced Rin Nakai in a non-title bout at Pancrase 252: 20th Anniversary in Yokohama, Japan.
"[53] To support herself outside of competition, LaRosa has worked in construction, as a personal assistant, bouncer, bartender, landscaper, and a medical marijuana delivery driver.
LaRosa's boyfriend, SFC Adrian Marcos Elizalde, was killed on August 23, 2007 when an improvised explosive device hit his truck in Al Aziziyah, Iraq.
They met as training partners while LaRosa was an instructor in modern army combat in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
[15] LaRosa endured a life-threatening experience in December 2010 during a second attempt to complete a 70-mile hike on Western Pennsylvania's Laurel Highlands trail.
[52] Unbeknownst to her during her second attempt, the challenge would be compounded by a drop in temperature caused by the recent appearance of a weather front from Lake Erie.
The ensuing heavy winds prevented her from maintaining a fire to keep warm after desperately finding a temporary shelter.
[52] In January 2018, LaRosa participated in a sparring match against a comedian with no martial arts training named Kristopher Zylinski.
The experiment was arranged by the Facebook page McDojoLife in response to Zylinski's messages in the comment section of an MMA article.
The comment, which began "99% of women are too weak and lack the reflexes to do enough damage to stop 99% of men", was followed by a request to have Zylinski compete against a female MMA fighter, to which he replied "still 80/20 me.
"[56] Anna Dempster and Sarah Patterson initially responded to the challenge but Tara LaRosa stepped in to replace them after each of them suffered an eye injury.
On January 6, one hour before the fight, LaRosa and Zylinski were told by police that the event had been deemed illegal by Florida's State Athletics Commission.
[59] In November 2018, LaRosa spoke at a HimToo rally in Portland, organized by a member of the far-right group Patriot Prayer.
Shortly after Veteran's Day, she was noted for subduing a counter-protester while members of the Proud Boys filmed her and waited for police to arrive.