Yesterday’s West Coast Can-Ams at BCIT was my second opportunity to compete in Muay Thai.
A week out and my trainer Wilf Betz (in the pic) had me drop down to 119lbs just in case there was a low female turnout. If only a handful of girls registered on the day it was entirely possible that the organizers would reshuffle the weight divisions and he didn’t want to risk me being placed with heavier girls.
The plan was to weigh in on Sunday morning as early as possible and then eat for a few hours before competing. I was almost as nervous hopping on the scales as I was stepping up to fight but the outcome was perfect: 119lbs on the nose.
First test over; so far so good. Time to eat. I wasn’t the only one with that idea either. Despite the early 8:30am start there was already a small queue forming by the weighing machine, protein bars at hand ready to gobble.
Only five girls registered for the Modified Muay Thai competition so I was relieved to have cut the weight because the divisions were definitely going to be overhauled. Until they announced that we’d have to weigh in again right before fighting….arggghh, all that food. How much of a difference was it going to make?
Turns out, not a lot. I weighed in just over 120lbs. Phew.
Three of the girls weighed in over 135lbs and only two of us came under. She was at least ten pounds heavier than me though and wore several tattoos. Nervous? Me? And it showed. It took me at least half of the first 1.5 minute round to settle down and start to engage. But it wasn’t really enough to make it my round. During the 30 second break Wilf told me it was too close to call. But I wasn’t here to lose.
The bell for the second round went and that was it…time to unleash the pain! I’d been practicing being mean all week and suddenly the trigger flipped. I came back on the mats ready to physically hurt her and make her regret taking me on. And for a moment I really did hate her, which felt so alien because I generally don’t dislike people and I’m she’s a lovely girl in real life. But in that moment, on those mats, I truly wanted to hurt her.
Then she did an illegal move and threw me to the floor. Fine in MMA but not at this level. When I got up I was seriously pissed. I’d been about to throw some knees but she prevented me doing so by tripping me, throwing us both to the floor and landing on top of me. I stood back up enraged. She was not about to have this her way. I got in to close range, grabbed the back of her head in a clinch and kneed her over and over again in the chest, then took a step back and kicked her a couple of times in the thigh until the fight was stopped. Sounds a bit brutal but there was no way I was taking second place.
(I giggled at myself while doing this though because the ‘mean’ really did come out. I actually heard myself let out a grrrrr while launching a knee in to her chest!)
I’ve a black eye to show for my efforts but I’m pretty sure her ribs are hurting quite a bit more.
Not sure when the next competition is but I’m so ready to fight again. I was the moment I walked off the mats.
Huge, HUGE thanks to everyone who came out to watch yesterday: Dyl, Emma, Tiffanie, all the Universal team and, of course, my trainer Wilf (having you in my corner rocks!)