MMA fighter aims for UFC

HEAVY HITTERS: Kate Da Silva with Roney Da Silva (left) and Pacific Mixed Martial Arts Rotorua owner and operator TJ Marsters. PHOTO/BEN FRASER

MIXED martial arts fighter Kate Da Silva hopes living, training and coaching at a gym in Rotorua will help her achieve her dream of fighting in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Kate has a black belt in jiu jitsu and is coached by her husband Roney Da Silva, originally from Brazil, who also holds a black belt in jiu jitsu.

The couple - along with three of their children - moved to Rotorua yesterday from Kawerau and have taken up a coaching position at the state-of-the-art Pacific MMA Gym on Maisey Place.

The family will live at the gym and coach Brazilian jiu jitsu and mixed martial arts full-time, while Kate will also base her training there as she works towards her next fight in Brazil.

She said she recently picked up a two-year contract fighting in the United States-based Xtreme Fighting Championships (XFC), and they would be flying her to Brazil next month for her first major fight.

"I can't wait," Kate, 32, said.

"I have a two-year, six-fight contract and I'm hoping after the first fight in five weeks time they will be really impressed."

She said her goal was to land a contract in the big time - the UFC.

"I want to be the first female from New Zealand in the UFC, it is a race."

Kate said the best fighters from XFC would often get picked up by the UFC, which is the biggest mixed martial arts promotion organisation in the world.

Kate currently has a record of nine wins and two losses fighting in New Zealand and Australia and competes in the flyweight (under-57kg) division.

She said having her husband as her coach was challenging at times but she had learned to separate training from family life.

"It can be very tough. We have our ups and down but I have had to learn to separate it," she said.

"He is hard on me but at the same time that is a good thing because I feel he is putting more into me than anyone else."

Kate and Roney have been together for about 11 years and lived in Kawerau and Tauranga before moving to Rotorua.

Roney is originally from Brazil where he trained in jiu jitsu from the age of 5.

He has been coaching his wife for 10 years and started holding Brazilian jiu jitsu classes around the Bay after helping out an old workmate in Tauranga.

"I started teaching because one of my workmates, his son was getting beaten up. I told him I could show his son how to defend himself," he said. "I taught his son two techniques and he never got beaten up again."

Since then, he has picked up more coaching roles across the Bay and is now the main jiu jitsu coach at Rotorua's Pacific MMA Gym.

He said he was invited to work at Pacific MMA by the gym owner TJ Marsters.

"TJ used to be my jiu jitsu student and he gave us the opportunity to come to Rotorua to bring jiu jitsu to Pacific."

He said they were holding an open day today at the gym and classes would start from Monday for people wanting to learn jiu jitsu or mixed martial arts.

Marsters said it was great to have two high-calibre jiu jitsu practitioners at the gym.

-If you want to join Brazilian jiu jitsu or MMA classes head along to the open day today or call Pacific MMA Gym 07 348 3898.