Muaythai fighter chases her passion and dreams
MIRI: Mia Mah may look petite but, as they say, looks can be deceiving. Describing herself as ‘adventurous,’ she’s that and much more.
She is Miri’s f irst female professional muaythai fighter.
Previously working as diving instructor based in Bali, Indonesia and Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Mah stumbled across a muaythai fight about four years ago.
“I was amazed by the strength and powerful punches thrown by the muaythai fighter, and I thought to myself that perhaps I could take up this sport too,” she said. The beginning She scoured the internet, looking for a muaythai training camp and found one in Phuket.
“I cannot imagine now how I just packed up my stuff, booked a flight and flew to Phuket. I stayed there for a month just to concentrate on the foundation and intensive training. It wasn’t easy at first, but I guessed I’ve managed,” she said.
A year l ater, Mah began participating in competitions starting from local ones in Sibu and Bintulu.
Between 2015 and 2016, she moved from the amateur to professional ranks competing in the region. She won her first international title in Thailand.
“Muaythai i s Thai land’s national combat sport and also a cultural martial arts. It uses standup striking along with various clinching techniques. Before the competition, I was struggling to keep up with the training. My trainer showed no mercy even though I was female, and I got a lot of bruises because muay thai use a lot of elbow to attack, during the training. The diet for competition was also a huge struggle because I had to fully control my calorie and water intake.
“Win or not, to me is not the main focus. I want to enjoy the competition, interacting with different fighters and take in as many experience as I can.” Public misconception Mia is also a passionate advocate for martial arts. She uses her own experience to educate the public especially women on the value and importance of learning martial arts.
“First of all, it is about protecting ourselves. People may criticize women about how martial arts are violent, rough and less ladylike.” Her stand? “I’d say they are very wrong.” “Persistent training, helps one to stay alert and muscle flexibility helps us to act almost automatically during an emergency. It isn’t all about fighting people for the sake of winning, it is about selfdefence and self- discipline,” Mah explained.
She continued, “Mart ia l arts cannot be equalized as violence. I have seen martial arts professionals who are welldisciplined and have self- control. On the contrary, those who have yet to reach the ‘ master’ level are likely to misuse their skills to vandalise and bul ly those weaker.”
Indeed, she believes children should also be encouraged to learn some basic martial arts.
“Not only learning martial arts could train their self- discipline, it also keeps away the bully, builds up confidence, mental strength and humble attitude, which could help shape their personality as they grow up,” she said. Realising her dream Although there were already martial arts and muay thai centres in Miri, Mia set out to establish a new one.
Her dream was to set up a conducive environment which projects a positive image of martial arts offering training for muaythai, kick-boxing and mixed martial arts ( MMA) amongst the locals, especially females.
Last year, she established Top Dog Factory Martial Arts Training Centre.
“There are trainees who wants to train for competition, there are those who train for self- defence and there are also those who train to build up muscles.
“Either way, I wanted to introduce the real concept behind these martial arts and educate them on the right mentality,” she said.
The centre hired two world-class champions – Ncedo Gambo from South Africa and Mekhrubon Maradonov of Tajikistan - to help the trainees.
According to Mah, Ncedo is a multiple World Muaythai Champion ( WMC) who won tournaments in Hong Kong, South Africa, Thailand, Uganda and Singapore.
Mekhrubon or popularly known as ‘Bon’ is a Borneo Mixed Martial
I was amazed by the strength and powerful punches thrown by the muaythai fighter, and I thought to myself that perhaps I could take up this sport too. Mia Mah, professional muaythai fighter
Art ( MMA) champion.
Mah,whoisthecentre’spresident, is keen to groom local fighters for international competitions.
But her centre is much more than that.
“More importantly, Top Dog Factory does not wish to compare nor compete with other centres, instead, we choose to respect each other. I like to think that it is more about giving options to those who want to change their lifestyles,” she said.
Top Dog Factory Martial Arts Training Centre is currently col laborating with Bintang Megamall here to present the ‘ Experience Your First Martial Ar t s’ demons t rat ion and performance on April 8 and 9 from 11 am. It is another of the centre’s activities to introduce martial arts to the community.