Fight Night

A friend invited me to an amateur MMA event in Hamilton. He’s been training in Muay Thai and wanted to support one of his teammates who was making his kickboxing debut. Thanks to that connection, we got access to the fighters’ prep area long enough for me to capture a behind-the-scenes look at their warm-ups and rituals before stepping into the ring.

The fights themselves were scrappy and unpolished, the kind of matches where anything could happen because there were no official EMTs on site. The whole night had this gritty, underground atmosphere that felt worlds away from anything regulated.

Even though the organizers had a photographer, I shot as if I were the only one there, ignoring the requests to kill my flash and getting as close to the action as I could. It was raw, sometimes brutal, and a hell of a lot of fun to document.