A hard Dayes night pays off
DEBUT LOSS SPURS ON MUAY THAI CHAMPION
THE way Hannah Dayes looks back at her first foray into the Muay Thai ring tells you everything you need to know about The Fight Academy athlete.
“I got absolutely bashed in my first fight, but I realised I loved it, and I wanted to get better, so I kept going,” Dayes said.
Dayes can now call herself a champion after claiming her first Muay Thai belt at Destiny 20, and in doing so became the first female fighter to earn a belt to hang on DF Gym’s wall of champions.
It was a rematch from a drawn bout at a Muay Thai League event just two weeks before, but this time she walked away with the splitdecision win.
She fell into Muay Thai the same way many people do, by simply joining a class for fitness.
Those regular sessions grew into something bigger, until one day a coach approached her with the idea to start fighting.
And while getting flogged in a debut bout might scare away some combatants, it only spurred on Dayes to work harder.
“I got into it for fitness – I didn’t realise fighting was a thing,” she said.
“I’d seen MMA obviously, but I never knew how people got on the path to compete.
“(Fighting) had honestly not crossed my mind.
“I’d always wanted to be able to fight, so have the ability, but the thought of actually jumping in the ring was almost numbing; it was scary, terrifying.
“I didn’t understand what it was all about when I went for my first fight, and it wasn’t until I was in there and it was such an adrenalin dump.
“The girl I fought was so much better than me, but it was so good for me because it made me train harder and want it more than I wanted it before.
“It was not my goal to end up in the ring, but it is my goal to stay in the ring.”
On Saturday, Dayes will fight for a second belt, when she takes on Maely Soares Silva from Methodical Muay Thai – Gladstone at Powerhouse IX.
Dayes took the fight just three weeks out, but it is an opportunity for The Fight Academy weapon to claim a second belt in as many months. She has been putting in the work, with the chance to claim The Fight Academy’s 10th belt for 2022 on the line.
In the past few weeks before showtime, Dayes is a regular in the English St gym to make sure that she stays sharp, and to go over the game plan before travelling to Mackay.
“We’re just going over the game plan and keep repeating what we’ve done,” she said.
“We’re not trying anything new, just trying to have a strong defence and sticking to that plan.”