MMA: Kids inspire mum on MMA mission

Faith Van Duin is finally defending her MMA title won a year ago. Photo / Rowan Sims

It's time for mum to get back in the cage.

MMA fighter and mother-of-two Faith Van Duin has been itching to defend her Storm Damage featherweight title and will finally get the opportunity to do that when she meets Arlene Blencowe in Canberra on August 30.

It will have been almost a year since the 28-year-old won the title as she beat three women, including Blencowe, in one night to become the best in Australasia.

The Papamoa-based Van Duin gains much of her inspiration through her daughters, Rangimarie, 12, and Rererangi, 8, and the pair have also been introduced to their mother's way of life as they recently received their yellow belts in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

"They're both aware of it because they do jiu-jitsu and some MMA as well," Van Duin said. "So they're pretty happy with what I'm doing and get all excited when I've got fights and when I have news. They get behind me 100 per cent."

Van Duin's fighting background is in the ground-based art of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, in which she now holds a purple belt. She took up the discipline two-and-a-half years ago after trying, and failing, to hold down a regular gym routine.

"I felt stink not committing to something, so I had a friend who talked about MMA," she said. "He really enjoyed it and sounded really happy about what he was doing so I thought, 'oh, I'll give it a go'. But I made sure I made a goal that I'd stick to it ... just to show my girls that you could do anything with hard work."

It has sometimes been difficult, juggling work and parenthood with her ambitions.

Known as The Immortal, she's accumulated a 4-0 MMA record and intends going further in the sport.

"Before I went to sign up for jiu-jitsu, I discussed it with my mum and said my goal was to be a world champion," Van Duin said.

Holding regional titles will help and she was also signed to the all-women Invicta Fighting Championships earlier this year - she should make her debut for the promotion in the US in December.

The UFC is where any top MMA fighter needs to be but they don't have a women's featherweight division (65.8kg), so Van Duin will perform a mock weight cut later in the year to see if she can make it to bantamweight (61.2kg) with an eye to one day being New Zealand's first woman in the UFC.

Blencowe looms as a tricky opponent, given Van Duin beat the 31-year-old only via a split decision when they last met.

"I'm excited to finally get to fight after waiting around for a year. It's a long time," Van Duin said. "I'm not really worried about ring-rust. I spar a lot and, when we do, we simulate a fight so it's not really too bad."

Blencowe (4-4) also won the women's International Boxing Association light welterweight title with a victory over Kiwi Daniella Smith in Auckland last year on the undercard of Joseph Parker's victory over Francois Botha.

The Australian has since vacated the title and is 2-2 as a professional boxer.