The 5ft 6in fighter has made a perfect, undefeated start to her career in the sport known as MMA.
She has won her first three fights with impressive performances that have caught the eye of some of the biggest cagefighting organisations in the world.
The 26-year-old, who works and trains full-time at the Griphouse gym in Glasgow, racked up her latest win at the Kelvin Hall on Saturday, when she defeated French opponent Ainara Mota by a technical knockout (TKO) in the second round of a one-sided bout at On Top 5.
Now she has caught the eye of American-based Invicta Fighting Championships, the world's biggest all-female MMA promotion.
The Evening Times first reported about Joanne in January as she was due to make her MMA debut against Noelia Molina at On Top 4.
She won that fight with a first round TKO, but it was her stunning performance at Super Fight League 3 in front of 12,000 fans in New Delhi last month that really announced her arrival on the world MMA scene.
Joanne was up against Ukranian Lena Ovchynnikova, who is a superstar of women's MMA.
The skilful Scot earned a unanimous decision victory after three rounds in which she dominated her more experienced opponent to make it two wins out of two.
That resulted in Super Fight League 3 offering Joanne a four-fight contract, but she could yet have bigger fish to fry if Strikeforce – owned by the world's biggest MMA promotion, the UFC – or Europe's top promotion CageWarriors come calling.
She said: "It's a 16-month deal and it is a very good opportunity, but I haven't signed it yet because I am not sure I want to tie myself to one organisation so early in my career.
"If I win a few more fights I might get the chance on CageWarriors or Strikeforce, which I would love.
"Also, Invicta has been in touch and has passed my details on to its matchmaker, and it would be a dream to fight on a show like that."
Joanne got into the sport after a long and successful career in Muay Thai boxing, in which she is a world champion.
Practising her Muay Thai at the Griphouse, she watched the MMA fighters of the gym's Dinky Ninja Fight Team hard at work and wanted to try it for herself. It also helped that her boyfriend, James Doolan, is a Top 10 European MMA bantamweight star.
MMA started as the controversial sport of cagefighting, but the inception of the UFC in 1993 has seen it evolve from a previously "no rules" spectacle into a game of finely-honed skill using techniques from boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, judo, Muay Thai and others.
The UFC does not have a women's division, although Strikeforce does, and many believe it is only a matter of time before the UFC follows suit.
For now, Joanne is training for a Muay Thai fight in Las Vegas next month, before she will get right back to work for a return to the MMA cage.
The straw-weight (115lb/8st 3lbs) fighter, from Kilmarnock, said: "I will cut back on my Brazilian jiu-jitsu and wrestling training while I prepare for the Muay Thai fight, but I am already looking forward to getting back to MMA training as soon as possible.
"It was great fighting at On Top again and it is always brilliant performing at home in front of my friends, family and Dinky Ninja team-mates.
"On Top has always treated me well and it gave me my first pro fight in MMA, which was also Scotland's first pro female MMA fight."
The 26-year-old is known as JoJo, or Cyborginho (Little Cyborg) in honour of her MMA hero Cristiane 'Cyborg' Santos. She also cites British fighter Rosi Sexton as one of her heroes.
Joanne's meteoric rise is no surprise to anyone who followed her Muay Thai career. But to those who did not know of her exploits before, she is proving a real inspiration.
She said: "The guys at the gym are telling me that there are a lot more girls turning up for the beginners' Brazilian jiu-jitsu classes and some of the girls I train Muay Thai with are also showing an interest in MMA now.
"I am really lucky that my coach Guy Ramsay is also my boss and that I can work and train at the same time.
"I had to make a decision when I reached a certain level to keep working as a support worker and train only at night, or move to training full-time.
"I am glad I made the choice to train full-time."
stef.lach@heraldandtimes.co.uk
