Ebanie Bridges has been reflecting on her journey from ring card girl at Muay Thai fights to becoming a world champion boxer.
The IBF bantamweight champion has a storied past that includes bodybuilding, working as a maths teacher, and even appearing on the TV show ‘SAS: Who Dares Wins’.
This week, the Australian fighter took a moment to reflect on how far she's come in the last six years after leaving her previous professions behind to chase boxing glory.
Writing on Instagram, she said: “18 years stepping through those ropes… but only the last 6 as a Boxer… can’t wait to see what the future holds,” posting a picture of her as a ring girl and one of her as boxing's IBF champion.
The post went viral, and the 36-year-old was inundated with congratulatory messages for the most part, but one commentator pointed out that they are currently on a similar journey.
Bare-knuckle boxer Tai Emery wrote: “I was a ring card girl too - best seat beside the ring, blood even got on us girls - it was the best."
Bridges replied: “Literally! I use to remember [holding] the cards up at Muay Thai fights to stop the blood spray.”
Emery added that she was a fan of all the blood, so it’s not surprising that she ultimately ended up pursuing a career with the Bare-Knuckle Fighting Championship. "I got told to stop cheering since I was the ring card girl. Lol - but I’m a fan of blood."
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A former American Football player, model and electrician, Emery impressed many in her BKFC debut by landing a beautiful right uppercut, left hook combination to take out her much more experienced opponent, Rung-Arun Khunchai, in the first round at an event in Thailand, last month.
Emery got a little overexcited post-fight and lifted her top, exposing her chest to the audience while celebrating, shocking BKFC commentator and UFC veteran, Chris Lytle, who quipped: “Interesting celebration, haven’t seen that one before.”
The video of the 35-year-old's impressive win and unique celebration quickly circulated around social media and she went from an unknown quantity to someone with a lot of eyeballs on them.
Despite her recent success, Emery still has a long way to go if she wants to reach the level of Bridges, but no one will count her out after the most memorable BKFC debut of all time.
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