Caring Bryony Tyrell proves she can switch off from real life as she goes from an intensive care nurse by day to a cage fighter by night.
Mum-of-two Bryony, who weighs 57kg, only started cage fighting three years ago and is already ranked 7th in UK’s strawweight category.
Jubilant Bryony, 36, said: “I train six days a week for a number of hours with my coach at Exile Gym.
“I regularly practice admission grappling, boxing, wrestling, Muay Thai and sparing, but my main discipline is MMA.
“I had been doing kickboxing and other contact sports for about 12 years and it was only when I saw a martial arts at my gym that I realised it was something I wanted to do.
“I used to be a vegetarian but I lacked strength and I went back to eating meat to ensure I could compete at a competitive level.”
Petite Bryony, from Southampton, had her first professional cage fight last year and is currently sitting on five fight winning streak.
However the strict diet and ruthless combat moves will often conflict with her nursing profession.
The mum, who has a masters in Nursing and a degree in Molecular Cell Biology, said: “A month before a fight I cut back on my carbohydrates and double my protein.
“I aim to cut 5kgs so that I can compete in the straw weight category, it’s an odd ball game but everyone does it.
“The hardest part is the day before the weigh in as I will cut out food and drink and workout in a sauna to get rid of excess water.
“It’s actually quite dangerous to do and it is something I would never recommend to people when in my work mode. People have even died from doing this.
“After the weigh in you have around 24 hours to eat as much of the weight back on again to ensure you have enough strength for the fight.
“Stepping into that ring is always a nerve racking feeling, especially when you first see your opponent and hear the crowd.
“I don’t enjoy hurting people but once I step into the ring I lose all sense of pain.
“I have won a few fights from ground and pound which is when you sit on their chest and hit them as hard as possible.
“Afterwards I am always flooded with guilt and I think this is even worse as I can see these injuries at work.”
Determined Bryony has to juggle her training with a busy family life.
She says: “I am lucky that my job has flexible hours as it allows me to have family and training time.
“A lot of the training that I do is in the evening so I still get to see my children after school.
“My husband Tom is an engineer and his is able to dictate a lot of his hours, which means he can always be around to look after Amber and Soren when I need to train.
“Tom is really supportive of me fighting and I wouldn’t be able to do it without him.
“When I first started he would get really nervous before a fight and he didn’t enjoy coming to watch me in case I got hurt.
“But now that I have turned professional he doesn’t mind coming along.”
Bryony, who runs a martial arts gym, would like to go into teaching after her professional career.
She added: “I take both my daughter and son to some of my training sessions and they really enjoy it.
“Amber and Soren are too young to watch my fights but they know what I do “At first they were quite cautious, especially when I came home battered and bruised, but now they think it is normal and that all mums do it.
“I would love it if they got involved with the sport and I would like to provide sessions for children.”
Bryony is sponsored by Temple Fight Wear, Booster Fight Wear, THT Plumbing and Home Improvements.
Courtesy of: Daily Echo