Amy Pirnie - Muay Thai Lady of the hour
Amy Pirnie is a force to be reckoned with. Featuring on the YOKKAO stage with three consecutive wins, Amy showed exactly what it takes to be the toughest name in UK Muay Thai. Pirnie's is a name that has been ringing through the Muay Thai community for some time now. After defeating Dakota Ditcheva at YOKKAO 24, when fans are asked to think of the top female fighter that the UK has produced, the name is always YOKKAO Next Generation fighter, Amy Pirnie.
Pirnie has been held the number one spot for some time now at 50.5kg and has been awarded female fighter of the year two years running in 2015 and 2016. She's continuing to grow as a fighter and profile that people can look up to and aspire to achieve. Living and training at the YOKKAO Training Center Bangkok isn't available for everyone, but when she was given the opportunity by the YOKKAO Team, she didn't think twice and arrived in Thailand with only one idea: to become the best version of herself.
Amy Pirnie trained alongside Saenchai, Manachai, Singdam and the man himself Kru Manop who produced more than 30 Muay Thai Champions of Lumpinee and Rajadamnern in his career. At only 24, Pirnie has already achieved something that many would dream of achieving and she was more than willing to open up and talk about her experiences with YOKKAO, her visit to the YOKKAO Training Center on the run up to her fight against Dakota Ditcheva, how preparation differed to that of a normal fight camp and how life was like living and training with the best.
Also getting an insight into what the future holds for the hard working and determined young lady who is set to achieve great things within Muay Thai: Dom: How did the opportunity arise for you to go out to Thailand and train with the best fighters in the world? Amy Pirnie: “I was planning a trip to Thailand as I hadn't been in around 6/7 years. As a YOKKAO Next generation athlete it was ideal to go and train there! I spoke with Brian and he helped get it sorted with the camp.” Dom: How did it go from talks to happening to actually getting your flight booked? Amy Pirnie: “It was a while before I booked the flight, was getting the right time with work and fights etc. We decided that 3 weeks was a good length of time to go for.” Dom: How was the experience for you? Amy Pirnie: "It was easy to adapt to the culture because I had been to Thailand previously and knew what it was generally like. Was nice being back in that environment. The timing was very different, sessions lasted longer and everything was intense but relaxed.
I enjoyed having periods between sessions to relax, sleep, eat and recover. At home I train 2x per day but I tend not to get that time with work so recovery isn't as good. Obviously, it was roughly the start of my proper fight camp for the last YOKKAO event in March. It started of my preparation great, doing pads with the likes of Singdam and sparring with some of the others helped me learn more about my flaws and let me improve my game. " Dom: How did the training benefit you as a fighter? Amy Pirnie: “Loads of different ways, I learned to adapt to people's styles a bit better. I fine-tuned the basics and brought home some new skills to put in to practice in the ring.” Dom: Do you have any plans to go back in the future? Amy Pirnie: “For sure, I'm looking more towards next year now.” Dom: Who would you like to be able to fight on the next YOKKAO show? Amy Pirnie: “I am just happy to fight, YOKKAO have done amazing with the opponent picking so far so I will leave that to them.” Dom: How did it feel beating Ditcheva at the event in March? Amy Pirnie: “It was a hard fight, Dakota was a very tough opponent. There was a load of hype surrounding the fight, with that comes added pressure to win. I felt confident that I put 100% into my camp give or take a few set backs which every Fighter experiences, I was confident I was going to win but it wasn't easy, it was a fight. I am ecstatic I won but more so with the response that the fight got was unbelievable!” Dom: What's next for you? Amy Pirnie: “I am fighting on Ultimate Muay Thai on May 13th against Monica Santos from Spain for the ISKA 50.5 World Title.”
The reason YOKKAO introduced the Next Generation was to give fighters like Amy Pirnie a chance to get their names known and seen by 1000's more people and give them a platform to showcase what it takes to be the best. Pirnie, from Glasgow in Scotland has been around the block and is leading the way destroying people on her way to the top. Fighting for a world title next month she is already paving the way to success. YOKKAO wish Amy Pirnie all the best with her upcoming fights that she has planned for this year and would be welcomed back to the YOKKAO Training Center at any time. Who would you like to see the deadliest woman to come out of the UK fight against? You can catch her here in action against Ditcheva at YOKKAO 24:
