Fight club: Meet the Adelaide women of mixed martial arts
By day, they’re uni students, a tradie and even a cake maker. But by night, they’re transformed into SA’s queens of the cage. Read their stories here.
Lifestyle
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When 23-year-old Nina Cuckovic isn’t studying for her master’s degree in international security she’s making cakes at the Cheesecake Shop. Michaela Curran, 26, earns her living as a stonemason and 20-year-old Tahlia Graetz is a mechanical engineer and university student.
At night, however, these young women are transformed.
They tape their hands, don the gloves and step into the octagon to take part in a sport that can strike fear into the hearts of even the toughest of burly men – mixed martial arts.
For those unfamiliar, MMA is a full-contact combat sport where competitors combine boxing, Muay Thai kickboxing, jiu-jitsu and wrestling, usually inside an octagonal “cage”.
In recent decades the sport has grown from a niche pursuit to a worldwide phenomenon, with competitors like Conor McGregor, Anderson Silva and Ronda Rousey becoming international household names.
On a rainy Wednesday night at Cardioflex gym at Pooraka the three young women are busy training alongside the men as coaches put their fighters through their paces.
It feels exactly like you’d expect a fighting gym to feel – there’s an energy in the atmosphere, but there’s also an obvious air of camaraderie and respect.
And according to Cardioflex owner and head coach Craig Icke, that camaraderie and respect is commonplace across the fight scene.
“One night I was looking around the mats and I took out a pen and paper and started writing down all the different nationalities,” Icke, who is also the founder and promoter of local MMA outfit Diamonback, said.
“We had people from 18 different nations – people from Iran, New Zealand, Ireland, Samoa, Greece, Egypt, Afghanistan … the list just got longer.
“And there were probably five or six religions too. Everyone fought each other, sat down, unwrapped their hands and had a good laugh. Where else would that happen?
“On the MMA matts everyone is equal, and that’s probably the greatest thing about it – the respect.”
While Mr Icke said the sport was still male dominated, the number of women joining its ranks was growing.
“As the years have gone by and the sport has become more mainstream more women have tried out,” he said.
“They often start just looking to get a bit of fitness, then they develop a love for it and at some point they’re going to want to test their skills against another person. It’s definitely a still a smaller percentage of women, but it’s growing.”
While there’s a handful of Adelaide women fighting at a competitive level, it’s only Cuckovic who fights out of Cardioflex.
Mr Icke said the young fighter had buckets of talent, but right now wasn’t committed to a particular goal.
“She’s had a couple of K1 fights,” he said.
“I think her goal is all about not putting a ceiling or end game on things, it’s more about enjoying the journey and seeing where it takes her.”
And as for the crowds, Mr Icke said they’re just as excited about watching the women fight.
“Generally speaking the girls put on a great contest,” he said.
“They want to show that they’re as good as the men, and in most cases they are. They train just has hard, and work full time jobs, spar with the men. Like I said, on the mats everyone is equal.”
THE FIGHT CLUB
Name: Nina Cuckovic
Age: 23
Country of birth: Serbia
Gym: Cardioflex MMA Gym
Coaches: Craig Icke (head coach), Frank Simile, Dylan Opitz
Fight record: 0-1-1 draw (and many taekwondo tournaments)
Day job: Cake baker, studying Master of International Security
How old were you when you started martial arts? I was nine years old.
How does it feel when you fight? It feels like nothing else in the world, it feels exhilarating and frightening, yet amazing.
How do people react when they find out you are a fighter? People are often very surprised and sometimes don’t understand why I do it, it’s usually a mix of responses with people who are interested in it and impressed and also people who aren’t fond of fighting as a sport.
Have you ever received negative feedback on being a fighter? Sometimes people are surprised that as a woman I have interest in fighting, and have received negative comments from people questioning why I would enjoy doing this as a sport. People often don’t understand the importance of the sport.
What are your goals as a fighter moving forward? I want to keep fighting and training harder and harder and seeing how far I can push myself and to see what I can achieve. I just want to keep competing, on whatever level I can achieve.
How was your experience on Diamondback Fighting Championship at Adelaide Oval? It was an amazing experience. From being backstage, to being in the ring everything was well organised and not chaotic and allowed me to focus on the fight and enjoy the amazing atmosphere of being on the centre stage (Cuckovic fought Michaela Curran, with the fight ending in a draw).
How does your family feel about your fighting? My family are incredibly supportive with anything I want to do, especially with sport. They initially got me interested in martial arts from a young age and understand the importance of pursuing the things I want to achieve, and have shown interest and support for me throughout my entire martial arts journey.
Name: Michaela Curran
Age: 26
Country of birth: Ireland
Gym: Frontline
Coaches: Dan, Vanessa, Shaun
Fight record: One Interclub win, one fight win, one fight draw
Day job: Stone mason
How does the sport make you feel and what emotions do you feel when you fight? From the fight camp training to actually fighting is such a surreal feeling. It feels like such an achievement knowing you have put in so much work, effort and time and getting to show everyone.
How do people react when they find out you are a fighter? Everyone is always so shocked when I say I fight and they can’t believe it.
Have you ever received negative feedback on being a fighter? Not really negative. I think sometimes it’s just hard for the people around you to watch you go through the training and the hard days of it.
What are your goals as a fighter moving forward? I just wanna keep my fitness up and gain more and more experience.
How was your experience on Diamondback Fighting Championship at Adelaide Oval? This was such a crazy experience – from warming up in the back rooms to fighting in a cage. It was such a good venue and such a good atmosphere.
Who is your martial arts inspiration? My brother has been my biggest inspiration. He has helped me to build my confidence and learn more skills. He’s been the best support for the whole training and fighting experience.
Name: Tahlia Graetz
Nickname: The Great White
Age: 20
Country of birth: Australia
Gym: Element Barossa
Coaches: Tommy Gerlach (head coach), Josh Graetz (striking coach), Jon Irwin (MMA coach)
Fight record: Muay Thai: 11f 7w, 4L. MMA: 4f 2w, both by TKO, 2L. Boxing 1f, 1L.
Day job: Mechanical engineer at Orora Glass, which is a glass bottle making factory. I’m also a full-time student studying mechanical engineering at UniSA.
How long have you trained? I have been training for seven years total and I had my first fight at 14.
Why did you begin training in martial arts? My dad used to own Barossa Muay Thai and he trained fighters out of our gym in the shed in our backyard, so I have been surrounded by fighting my whole life. He also used to compete in Muay Thai and he is my inspiration and role model.
How does training make you feel? Training makes everything simple. Outside worries and stresses melt away and are reduced to punches and kicks. Training is too intense to have any thoughts about the outside world. You don’t have any time to think about anything else. The strength training gives me makes me feel powerful and independent.
How does it feel & what emotions do you feel when you compete or fight? When I compete I feel an urge to make my dad proud. Just by training and being disciplined I know I make my family proud but I always want to perform well in the ring or cage. But other than that I don’t feel many “emotions” when I fight. If you get to emotional it can be detrimental, you need to be focused, clam, and level headed.
How do people react when they find out you are a fighter? They always think I am joking but I like it that way.
Have you ever received negative feedback on being a fighter? Some people think that is too much of a masculine sport or activity for a female to do and maybe feel threatened by me. But majority of the feedback I get is positive and they always want to see footage of my fights.
What are your goals as a fighter moving forward? My goals are to win a flyweight title and turn pro. I would love to be signed by a fighting league like UFC or ONEFC.
How does your family feel about your? My mum and dad tried to hold off on me starting martial arts as long as possible but I begged and begged and eventually they gave in and let me start at 13. Now they of course love it, however my mum gets stressed near fight time and always tries to convince me to stop, for her sake not mine.
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