Female cage fighter from Northampton set for 'biggest fight of career' in Miami, USA, Thursday night

Hayley Valentine is set to make her promotional debut with professional MMA promotion Combate Global when she takes on WBC interim world flyweight champion, Kenia Enriquez (28-1).

The 28-year-old former Abbeyfield School student trains at BST Academy in Sixfields, alongside other professional MMA fighters including Corby’s Jordan Vucenic.

Speaking with the Chronicle & Echo ahead of her biggest fight to date, Hayley said: “I’m very excited. This is a big step for me and my team now to the international level. This is what we’ve been training for.

"It’s unreal. I’m so thankful for this. I left my job, that’s helped me focus more on this. I’m fully committed.

"This is not going to be an easy fight. We know she’s a boxer. She knows I’m probably going to grapple as well. It’s not going to be easy, it’s going to be very technical. She has 12 years of boxing experience and I have 10 years of MMA experience. It’s an intriguing fight. It’s a big step for us.

"I am a mixed-martial artist in this fight. She’s coming into an MMA world. She's had a few months to prepare for this fight learning MMA. I bring to the table that I am the mixed martial artist, the all-rounder. I am ready for this fight.”

Hayley hasn’t had a fight in two years but says she has been staying ready for an opportunity like this.

She said: “I've never stopped training, I’ve always been in the gym. People have said a moment like this comes to those who wait, but I’ve not been waiting — I’ve been prepping for this. I’ve been two years out but I’ve been prepping.

"Struggling to find opponents that are at my weight has been a challenge. This fight, I’m going up a weight. I’ve had two years out, fights have fallen through, promotions have fallen through. When this one turned up a few weeks ago, we thought, yeah let’s go for it. Let's take a step to this new level.”

Looking ahead, Hayley hopes this opportunity is a stepping stone to achieving her ultimate goal of getting into the biggest MMA promotion, the UFC.

She said: “More promotions could be coming our way. It's just getting broader. Getting a big win would open doors to other promotions internationally as well.

"My vision is to get into the UFC. There are different ways to get there, it could be through Cage Warriors or a US promotion called Invicta. My coach said to me a couple of days ago that I will be champion.”

Looking back on her 10-year MMA journey to get here, Hayley said: “This has all been a teamwork thing. Ten years of grinding. It’s all paid off so far after 10 years. My team has made me who I am today. It’s been crazy in the 10 years I’ve been training.”

She added: “My family is so proud. My dad’s been going round telling everyone he sees I'm fighting!”

Asked what made her get involved in the first place, she said: “I wanted to do public services at college and I kept failing the fitness tests by one mark, so I needed a gym to get fitter. BST was down the road from me, I popped my head in, I gave it a try and it’s literally changed my life for 10 years."

To women thinking about MMA, Hayley said: “You won’t know until you try it! I started and loved it straight away. I’d say try, and be consistent with it!”

Hayley’s fight will be streamed live and free worldwide on Combate Global’s official YouTube channel on Friday, March 14, at 1am UK time. Fans can watch the action via this link: https://youtube.com/@combateglobalofficial?feature=shared. You can also follow updates on @combateglobal.