Survivor reality TV star reveals her dad got her into martial arts through an underground car park fight club when she was a kid
- MMA star revealed her MMA beginnings at a Gold Coast fight club
- Chelsea Hackett’s father started a boxing club in the parking lot
- At 12, he encouraged her to try and she has never looked back
EXCLUSIVE
Australian MMA fighter and reality TV star Chelsea Hackett has revealed she got her start in combat sports as a child through a fight club in an underground car park.
The 24-year-old personal trainer who competes in the Women’s Flyweight division of the Professional Fighters League (PFL) had a very unusual introduction to combat sports.
Hackett had been doing taekwondo since he was eight, but really got into the underground fighting scene at the age of twelve on the Gold Coast.
“My father founded a Chinese boxing team,” Hackett told Ny Breaking Australia
“They were just regular regular guys meeting in a parking lot.
Australian MMA star Chelsea Hackett has spoken about her introduction to combat sports
Hackett (pictured) got involved in a real underground fight club at the age of 12
‘He made a deal with one of the entrepreneurs so that we could use the parking lot three days a week for a kind of fight club.
‘One day he told me to come and train. I was 12 at the time and he threw the headguard on me, and MMA gloves, and put me with a 16 year old guy who was a lot bigger than me. He set the timer for three minutes.
‘He said, “Go, do what you want.”
‘I just let go. I threw the kitchen sink at this man. Obviously he wasn’t trying to hit me, but afterwards I realized I had it in me – and Dad realized I had that kind of dog in me.
“I started doing that three days a week.”
Not long after, Hackett found herself at John Wayne Parr’s Boonchu Muay Thai gym on the Gold Coast, training until she was ready to fight in competition.
At the age of 19, Hackett transitioned to MMA, where she found great success and was recently selected to the PFL’s flyweight division.
In 2021, Hackett decided to take part in Australian Survivor: Brains v Brawn, but fell ill during the show and was eventually rushed to hospital with extreme dehydration and an infection, after two days of dizziness and headaches on set.
The MMA star now competes in the PFL’s Women’s Flyweight division
Hackett also appeared on Survivor in 2021, but had to withdraw due to illness
As tough as her experience on the reality TV show was, Hackett believes it benefited her in many ways.
‘It was full. You’re hungry, you’re dehydrated, you’re hot. You sleep in the bush.
“Then to try to make a TV show and have the producers in your face all the time was just difficult, but it was a good experience.
“It (the show) definitely built resilience in me and helped me with life in general.”
Hackett lost her most recent fight in the PFL to American fighter Jena Bishop at PFL 1 in San Antonio last weekend.
The Australian star then took to social media to thank her supporters.
‘That hurts. Nothing happens,” she posted.
‘Back again in eight weeks for a second recording, I have some catching up to do.’