Last year, to celebrate our fifth year, we launched our inaugural Fight Record UK Fighter of the Year Awards.
Josh Hill and Iman Barlow claimed the accolades last year, and now it’s time to decide who has earned spot amongst the nominees this year.
Without further ado, here’s our five nominees for our Fighter Record UK Female Fighter of the Year 2023.
Eleanor Fellows
Eleanor Fellows competed twice in a week to end 2023 with a total of 10 fights.
A breakthrough first half of the year saw her take on some of the best females in her weight division on the domestic scene, including a win over Daniela Miranda and ISKA British title win against Mia Skeer.
After moving out to Thailand in the summer, Fellows has settled into life at Kiatphontip Gym in Bangkok and ended the year with two wins within a week just before Christmas.
Emma Usher
Another very active fighter in 2023, Dublin-born Emma Usher has had 8 fights in her first year as a professional (6-2), with two defeats coming by split decision.
After giving up her life in Dublin last year, Emma Usher moved over to Liverpool where she now lives and trains full-time at MASDA Gym.
She’s already fought many of the best in her weight division in her young professional career, including Daniella Miranda and a win over fellow-nominee Eleanor Fellows. But perhaps her biggest achievement to date is competing on RWS Muay Thai at Rajadamnern Stadium against world top 10 ranked Angela Chang.
Alex Rose
Unbeaten in her short career, Alex Rose has proven herself as a rising star with a perfect 4-0 record in 2023.
She first picked up the WBC Muay Thai European title in the first half of the year, beating Sonia Dinh. Then, she defeated former #2 Daniela Miranda and former #1 Rhona Walker.
Due to the inactivity of the current #1 Marie McManamon and #2 Meg Corwell, Alex Rose will be the new 52.5kg Thai Fighter UK #1 in the next update.
She then ended a perfect year with a big victory over world ranked Petchompoo in Thailand just before Christmas.
Hannah Brady
Thai Fighter UK 57kg #1, Hannah Brady, went 3-1 in 2023, including 2 appearances in ONE Friday Fights.
In March, she collected the WBC British title with a victory over Iony Lawrence before a knockout win over Claire Rankine in her ONE debut.
Despite a gruelling three round war against Natalia Diachkova in her second ONE appearance, it was a standing eight-count in the second round which resulted in a unanimous decision loss.
She ended the year by solidifying her spot at the top of the domestic rankings with a victory over Elia Dewu on MTGP.
Niamh Kinehan
Niamh Kinehan became an undisputed world champion in 2023 and the only female to unify all three world titles from the top organisations.
The ISKA and WBC Muay Thai world champion successfully defended her WBC crown in March. Then, she became undisputed by winning the WMO Muay Thai world title in June.
Injury has kept her out of action in the latter half of the year, but those two feats alone are worthy of a nomination in this years Fight Record UK Female Fighter of the Year.
Daniela Miranda
Daniela Miranda was also very active in 2023 with a total of 6 fights, her only two defeats coming against the aforementioned Eleanor Fellows and Alex Rose.
She would go on to win the WBC National title against Emma Usher, and then she closed out a successful year by winning the ISKA Muay Thai world title against Becky Caslin at ‘Road to Rajadamnern UK’ on December 16.
Jenna Ross
We aim to list a maximum of 5 nominees, but we felt we should acknowledge one more, so our sixth nomination for Fight Record UK Female Fighter of the Year is Jenna Ross.
The UK Flyweight #1 has a perfect 3-0 in 2023, with two international victories and a big domestic win over the highly experienced Yasmin Nazary.
How is the winner decided?
To keep it fair and open, we have selected a panel of 5 independent judges, all of whom have no connection to either of the above fighters.
These judges will score the fighters based on who they think has had the most successful year in 2023, giving their preferred athlete 3 points, then 2 points to the 2nd and 1 point for 3rd.
The points will then be accumulated across all 5 judges votes and the athlete with the most points will be declared the winner of the Fighter Record UK Female Fighter of the Year 2023.
Winner will be announced on the week leading up to New Year.