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Benest won her fight at Battle of the Coast 9 last month. Photo, Chenay Collett of Ti Tree Photography.
Snells Beach’s Georgia Benest recently won a national title at the NZ Grappler Oceania Open Jiu-jitsu Championship and has begun training in mixed martial arts (MMA).
Last month, she won her fight in the Brazillian jiu-jitsu category at the Battle on the Coast competition hosted by Hibiscus Coast MMA in Whangaparaoa.
The competitions comprise true physical combat and can be demanding on young fighters.
Her father Tim admits that some are surprised to learn that his 13-year-old daughter is a champion fighter, but he says Georgia is “no ordinary girl”.
She trains up to four nights a week at the Coast Academy on Morrison Drive and works with a personal trainer at weekends leading up to a competition fight.
She has been fighting for four years after she joined a jiu-jitsu academy in Te Atatu, West Auckland.
When Benest isn’t training, her hobbies include horseback riding, archery, riding unicycles and medieval weaponry exhibitions.
Her dream is to own her own jiu-jitsu school and perform as a stunt artist in movies. She recently did a workshop with stunt artist Dayna Grant learning to perform stunts on wires.
Benest also recently took gold in the Auckland Summer Slam in the youth under 55kg “grey belt” category.
It was one of her first gold medals without wearing a “Gi” bodysuit. The suits are the traditional uniform for training in jiu-jitsu and have grips which help fighters gain control of their opponents.
Tim says that as she gets older, Benest is getting more interested in the striking element of fighting. Up until now she has focused on ground-based fighting.
Ground-based fighting is less “explosive” and is suited to younger athletes because it reduces the chance of injury.
