Heart of the Nation: Manly 2095

ALEX Chambers’ powerful fists and feet belie her petite frame.

141004 TWAM EMBARGO FOR TWAM 4 OCT 2014 NO REUSE WITHOUT PERMISSION FEE APPLIES MMA fighter Alex Chambers of Manly who recen...

ALEX Chambers weighs 52kg and stands 160cm tall in her bare feet. But opponents who step into the cage with her soon experience those bare feet, and her thinly-gloved fists, slamming into them with a power that belies her petite frame.

Chambers’ ideal fight goes like this: stand and strike, then wrestle the opponent to the floor for some “ground and pound”, before going for a submission with a “rear naked choke”, which is not as much fun as it sounds — it’s a type of stranglehold that leaves a fellow fighter with only two options, to tap out or pass out.

You might wonder, what’s a nice girl with a science degree doing in the brutal world of mixed martial arts? Chambers, 35, gets asked this a lot. “I’m following my dream,” is her response. Growing up in Sydney’s Manly, her love of fighting was kindled at the age of eight, when she first stepped into a karate dojo. Years later, a mixed martial arts event came on TV and “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing”, she says. It wasn’t just the gladiatorial spectacle of the cage and the blood; she was fascinated by the way different fighting styles were pitted against each other.

These days, as a pro signed to the UFC, the sport’s flagship brand, Chambers has separate coaches for wrestling, boxing, Muay Thai and jujitsu. “I have such a passion for learning new things,” she says. Her nickname is “Astro Girl” — a reference to the fact that she studied quantum physics and astrophysics as part of her degree at Sydney Uni. She still harbours the sliver of a dream of getting a job in astronomy after she’s done fighting.

Chambers says the biff doesn’t hurt, thanks to the adrenalin, and she’s not worried about it ruining her face (“that’s the least of my concerns”). Her job’s no impediment to meeting nice guys, either. “I don’t look very intimidating,” she points out.