Milena Martinou is finding a way to get in her fitness kicks

Milena Martinou has a degree in finance and she does not have an aggressive streak. Remember that as she co-headlines Fight Night on Friday night at Du Forum on Yas Island.

Milena Martinou went from volleyball to kickboxing, which led to Muay Thai fighting. Ravindranath K / The National

Milena Martinou has a degree in finance and she does not have an aggressive streak. Remember that as she co-headlines Fight Night tonight at Du Forum on Yas Island.

It may not be the first Muay Thai fight night in Abu Dhabi but it could well be the most significant to date with at least 16 fighters from around the world taking part in an event sanctioned by the World Muay Thai Council.

Martinou will take on Malihe Mardibabi from Iran, one of several fights on the card and, despite having fought last in October, Friday night cannot come early enough.

“I am excited and really looking forward to it,” she said after a training session at the Cobra Fitness Gym, where she is also a trainer.

“Although I’m a little disappointed because my opponents keep changing. Three have changed already.”

Martinou is a 25-fight veteran (20 wins), which, considering that her main sporting recreation used to be volleyball, is not a bad record.

She fell into the martial art almost by accident by way of kickboxing.

“There was a gym close to my house in Athens. I just went there, tried it and since then I loved it,” she said. “I’ve been doing it for nine years now.

“I was in a volleyball team and I was studying, so I had to stop volleyball. Then I decided after that I needed to start something else because I needed to train. That’s when I started kickboxing.”

She remembers just what it was that hooked her that first day.

“I was stressed out that first day and I think I just let it all out, whatever I had,” Martinou said. “I am not an aggressive person. I am usually very quiet and that was a way to show, not my aggressiveness, but a release for passion, to let out my emotion.”

She only took up Muay Thai once she had moved to Abu Dhabi, more than four years ago.

A lack of gyms where she could train properly was a hindrance initially but she eventually found her way to the Cobra gym, where she first took up Muay Thai.

A background in kickboxing helps, as does boxing or jiu-jitsu but Muay Thai is, ultimately, a bit more brutal.

“It is not that much different to kickboxing but you use elbows, clinches and the knees more, and have throw-downs,” Martinou said. “They are different, but in small ways. You can say that Muay Thai is a bit more brutal. The elbow stuff, especially, is a bit harsh and the clinching as well.”

It is why in the days after a fight she often finds herself questioning why she does it. Invariably, within a week, she wants to be back at the gym, looking for her next match.

“The motivation now is the fight,” she said.

Most of her most memorable fight experiences have come in Thailand, the spiritual home of the martial art. There is a purer style there, one not as dependent on strength and fitness as in Europe.

“Every fight is different but in Thailand it was a huge experience,” Martinou said.

“The crowd was huge but the style of fighting was a little different. I fought with a Thai fighter and she had the original style, so I had to face that.”

Martinou won the fight, knocking her opponent out in the second round with a head kick.

The significance of tonight's fight is not lost on her. The capital has had its share of Mixed Martial Arts events and there is a UFC event in April. Also, jiu-jitsu is firmly established as the leading martial art in the country and, last December, Abu Dhabi even staged a first boxing night.

Muay Thai, by comparison, has had next to nothing.

“For two to three years there has been a scene developing here but mostly it has been in Dubai,” she said.

“For Abu Dhabi it is a big thing. There are fighters coming from Australia, Iran, from Europe, so it’s a big thing. It is the first time something that big is happening in Muay Thai.”

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