MIXED MARTIAL ARTS - Bay woman wins in own 'Star War'

7th June 2008

ANENDRA SINGH

LIP GLOSS, foundation, mascara, eyeliner and eyeshadow are all crucial parts of the ensemble when chicks doll up before heading downtown for a girls' night out.

But it staggers Nicole Kavanagh to see opponents climb into the ring with all that stuff painted on.

If anything, when the 29-year-old finishes pummelling them to the canvas they start looking like Amy Winehouse or Courtney Love before they checked into the rehab centre.

In fact, Kavagnah's opponents would be better off popping in to visit the mixed martial arts exponent at her insurance office in Hastings before the fight for a policy. But there's a snag with that, too.

"Oh no, I prefer not to meet any of them before a fight. I'm going in to do the business and I'd rather catch up with them afterwards," the Zero Tolerance Sub Zero fighter from Napier tells SportToday.

"I don't like make-up at all but some of the fighters do; would you believe that? I think it's stupid."

If publicity stunts are the yardstick for winning, Kavanagh would have lost the fight in the mixed martial arts event, Princesses of Pain, in Auckland even before stepping into the ring last Saturday night.

After all, she was up against limelight-hogging Amanda Lucas, daughter of American filmmaker George Lucas, of the Star Wars trilogy, Indiana Jones and American Graffiti fame.

A promoter's dream, Lucas was part of an all-female American contingent to compete in the 10-bout promotion and the media and TV cameras reportedly followed the 27-year-old around every time she and her teammates left their humble backpackers' hostel.

Nevertheless, Kavanagh had other ideas and wasn't going to let all the hoopla and the glare of the film and TV cameras distract her from the mission at hand.

Two minutes 24 seconds in the final stanza of the three by three-minute round, 73kg bout, the referee jumped in to stop the fight after Australasian team member Kavanagh rained punches from a dominant mount position on the ground.

"The ref told Amanda he had given her plenty of opportunity to defend herself but she couldn't," says Kavanagh, who sent crowd favourite Lucas back to the changing rooms with two black eyes and a bloody nose, to the delight of her carload of Hawke's Bay supporters and clubmates.

"But she doesn't wear any make-up, though. She got me around one eye and I got her on both."

The teams drew 3-all, with men making up the remaining bouts.

While Lucas gave away height and reach, she was the stockier because of her workouts with her American bodybuilding fianc?.

The San Francisco woman reportedly has had years of martial-arts training in kickboxing, muay thai and Brazilian ju-jitsu.

The Napier fighter took up mixed martial arts under Zero Tolerance trainer/fighter Dion Crouch only 10 months ago after more than two years of kickboxing. Her scrap with Lucas was her debut in mixed martial arts.

Gaining sponsorship from the Pettigrew-Green Arena Gym, which provided her with a membership for daily workouts, Kavanagh says she has never been so fit in her life.

A "shy girl" with tomboyish tendencies, Kavanagh says fighting built her confidence in every facet of life. She has represented New Zealand in inline hockey, both as a player and assistant coach.

Next on her agenda is the Porirua Muay Thai (kickboxing) promotion on June 27, and then it's a trip with her gym stablemates to Thailand on July 5. There, they will train in Bangkok and, with some luck, have a few fight sessions at a gym where Crouch often trains at Christmas holidays.

Kavanagh's mother, Alison, is concerned about her getting hurt in the ring, but supports her daughter despite never having watched her fight.

While she's a "free agent", Kavanagh says when guys ask her out on dates they often take a little step back and look twice when she tells them she's a fighter.