WITH two purple eyes, cheeks swollen to the point of bursting and bloodied lips, it’s no wonder Melanie Shah drew attention at the school gates.
The painful-looking injuries – including a broken tooth – were from the mum-of-three’s surprising job as a professional bare-knuckle fighter.
BKFC UKMelanie Shah in a title fight against Britain Hart last year[/caption]
BKFC UKMelanie was left with swollen cheeks and lost a tooth from a title fight last year[/caption]
SuppliedNow the mum-of-three tells us she’s criticised for being a parent involved in such a violent sport[/caption]
SuppliedMatilda Wilson is another mum who’s become hooked on the brutal brawls[/caption]
Melanie, 42, from Birmingham, had just been beaten by Britain Hart in what was described as a “brutal bloodbath” by spectators of her Bare Knuckle Fight Championship (BKFC) title fight.
She’s part of a growing number of mums drawn to the sport, which is soaring in popularity and has seen the top female fighters rake as much as £610,000 per clash.
But pros like Melanie are taking serious flak for participating in the ultra-violent matches, which regularly see competitors end bouts with contorted faces, toothless and covered in blood.
She tells The Sun that other mums judge female fighters with kids, criticising their decision to engage in the bloody wars in the ring and doubting their parenting skills.
“I had loads of people messaging me saying nasty things,” Melanie says.
“Saying, ‘how can you do this when you’re a mum? How could you do this to your children?’
“Somebody even said, ‘I bet her husband makes her do it’. It’s that thing, where if a guy does it, and he does it for guy reasons… he has that rough and tumble kind of attitude. They’re happy.
“When a woman does it people say well there must be something wrong, why would she want to do it?”
Bare-knuckle boxing is drawing a legion of fans online and is tipped to take over mixed martial arts (MMA) as the world’s No1 contact sport.
In April this year, UFC legend Conor McGregor became a part-owner of the sport’s biggest company, BKFC, which founder David Feldman said would “open up a lot of new markets” and “blow this s*** up”.
Fight videos from the US firm are reported to have surpassed two billion impressions on social media, reaching 150 million households and been downloaded 2.5million times.
Fighters are being paid huge sums – including female stars like former UFC star Paige VanZant, who revealed she earned $800,000 (£610,000) for one clash.
She previously told The Sun: “I’m here for a reason. I was in the UFC for six years getting paid $40,000 (to show) and $40,000 (to win), and now I’m getting ten times that doing what I love.
“So obviously, I’m not going anywhere. I’m very happy fighting here and I’m excited to fight.”
InstagramBare-knuckle fighter Paige VanZant says she makes ’10 times’ the amount she made in UFC in the Bare Knuckle Fight Championship[/caption]
SuppliedMathilda Wilson, pictured with husband Liam, also fights bouts in the BKFC[/caption]
SuppliedOne of the many painful-looking injuries Mathilda suffered[/caption]
Another fighter, mum Sydney Smith revealed she earned $8,000 for one fight in April – others say the minimum pay a BKFC fighter can make is $500 (£380) per fight.
The scene is growing in the UK too, with Bare Knuckle Boxing (BKB) events being held at The 02 arena, in London, much to the excitement of mums like Melanie.
The Brummie was left unrecognisable after a BKFC title fight with Britain Hart last year, but despite her painful-looking wounds was keen to go back for more ‘punishment’.
After the bout, Melanie told an interviewer: “Even though I don’t look like it, I enjoyed the whole process and I enjoy being in the ring and challenging myself.”
I couldn’t go back to my old ways of doing things. I don’t want to get hurt or get in trouble. So I had to do it in a more legitimate way
Melanie Shah
Despite partaking in such a vicious sport, she says she is non-confrontational in real life and and would avoid a street fight unless she had no other option.
Talking about her motivation for getting involved in the sport, Melanie said: “It’s a release of frustration. That is what it has been for me.
“When you have to conform and you have to do certain things… but you are breaking out of that, because you are doing something that nobody else is doing.”
Underground fight clubs
Melanie got involved in underground fighting in her late teens – some took place in parks, others at parties or a few happened inside strangers’ garages.
When she married her boyfriend and had children she decided to stop – instead of focussing on fighting, her energy was turned to caring for her two autistic sons and her job in Network Rail’s IT Department.
Melanie says her husband trained her during lockdowns in their kitchenSupplied
The mum preparing for a bare-knuckle fight
But after her third pregnancy, giving birth to a daughter, and battling depression, the mum was tempted back to the sport she fell in love with years before.
She said: “I could see that all the bare-knuckle stuff was coming up more mainstream…
“I couldn’t go back to my old ways of doing things. I don’t want to get hurt or get in trouble. So I had to do it in a more legitimate way.”
Melanie was trained by her husband during the pandemic when gyms were shut and so had to improvise sparring sessions around their kitchen and sitting room.
It was practice rounds with her partner, where they were dodging pots and pans, that she credits for her difficult-to-beat fighting style, which sees her getting very close to opponents.
Inside the UK’s undergound fight clubs
BY Emma Pietras and Josh Saunders.
IT’S estimated that FIVE illegal underground fights happen every week in the UK in disused warehouses, car parks and motorway underpasses.
The bloody battles often have no rules and no medical team on standby, which increases the risks to combatants.
Fighters are often looking to make a name for themselves so that they can transition to the likes of the UFC, where they are paid tens of thousands of pounds per clash.
Videos featuring their illegal bouts drum up big traffic – the top three fight clubs received 51million views each from their latest videos.
Many of the fighters suffer lasting injuries, including Alex who told the Channel 4 documentary UNTOLD: The Secret World of Fight Clubs about one of his worst.
“Ten seconds in, he bit my ear off. I didn’t know it had come off at first. Blood was trickling down my face,” he said.
Doctors couldn’t reattach the bitten-off piece of his ear due to it being torn off, rather than a clean cut, but says he’s not fussed by it.
He added: “There was a risk of infections too, so there was no chance. It’s quite a big chunk, about the width of your pinkie finger. It doesn’t bother me.”
It’s estimated fighters are paid around £2,000 for each of their underground fights – but there is a caveat.
“You only get paid if you win,” Alex said. “It’s not enough to make a career. This isn’t a job for me.”
It would eventually lead to a clash with fellow mum Mathilda Wilson, 25, who tells The Sun she has been criticised for being a parent involved in such a violent sport.
The Swedish fighter is married to fellow bare-knuckle boxer Liam Wilson, from the UK, who often appears on the same fight cards as her.
‘We’re not very stereotypical’
Mathilda admits the couple do not lead a “very stereotypical family life” as they both need to get their hours in at the gym in preparation for professional bouts.
Often, this will mean their son Zion – when he’s not playfully training with them – sleeps on his parents’ hit mats.
Mathilda tells The Sun: “We don’t live a very stereotypical family life. We live life basically the same, he’s just with us doing everything.
“I love mixing it. I couldn’t picture my life without him. It’s just the best”.
SuppliedMelanie and Mathilda Wilson battled it out in 2022 – the latter mum fighter lost[/caption]
SuppliedMatilda, sporting an eye injury from a bout, with fighter hubby Liam and son Zion[/caption]
The couple’s son sleeps of hit mats in the gym while his parents train
SuppliedShe argues her son will be inspired watching her fight because she is following her dreams[/caption]
Mathilda made the surprising decision to get involved in martial arts at the age of 19 after collapsing from an undiagnosed heart problem and needing to have a peacemaker fitted.
She said: “The doctor said that I couldn’t do any physical sports, like martial arts or ice hockey.
“I’m a little bit like if somebody tells me I can’t do something, I need to do it. I was stubborn. I just went and signed up, as I wasn’t allowed to do martial arts.”
When a woman does it people say well there must be something wrong, why would she want to do it?
Mathilda
In 2022, Mathilda made history by taking part in the UK’s first professional female bare-knuckle bout against Taylor Reeves – a clash she won.
She admits balancing her need to fight with parenthood hasn’t been an easy task – but it’s one she considers important.
“It’s a puzzle. You have to fit everything in the best sort of way, with three individual people. Everyone has their own needs,” Mathilda said.
“Liam has got his needs, I have my needs, the baby has his, and you have to try and fit them all together. If you don’t follow the needs you’re going to have problems. It’s unavoidable.
“I would never give up on myself. If you do that you’re going to become a miserable person. That was my biggest fear. I can’t lose myself.”
Mathilda tells us that people might think it is selfish to keep fighting with a child. But she thinks it is the opposite.
“If I’m not taking care of myself, then I won’t be a good wife, I won’t be a good mother to my kid,” she says.
“I want him to see that he should follow his dreams.”