20-year-old Australian flyweight Chelsea Hackett has thrived as a Muay Thai fighter, and now she’s preparing to conquer the world of mixed martial arts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hackett’s martial arts journey began at just eight years old, when her parents enrolled her in Taekwondo. By the time she was 12, she’d earned a blackbelt in the Korean martial art, and sought out a new challenge in the form of Muay Thai. She signed up for classes at Boonchu Gym on the Gold Coast, which is operated by Angie and John Wayne Parr, and by the time she was 13, she was climbing into the ring for her first fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fast forward to the present, when Hackett is mere days away from her professional MMA debut, and she’s constructed a solid 16-4-3 Muay Thai record, and hoarded a mountain of medals, trophies and belts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“My biggest accomplishment in Muay Thai would be representing Australia twice,” she told BJPenn.com, running through her impressive accolades. “I competed at the World Games in 2014 in Malaysia and in 2015 in Bangkok, Thailand. Those would be my biggest achievements \u2014 just representing my country at a young age. I was 15 in Malaysia and 16 in Bangkok, and both years I won gold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“To bring gold back home both years in a row was a massive achievement for me and it pretty much set the tone for the rest of my Muah Thai career,” she continued. “Since then I’ve won three Queensland titles, three Australian titles, two world titles, and an international WBC belt. I think I’ve won six belts and two gold medals.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n