Queens, NY
Fighter of the Month—Angela Hill
Angela
Hill, of Evolution Muay Thai, New York, can thus far
boast quite a rarity—both an undefeated amateur career
of 14 wins and a blossoming professional career of one
win so far. She’s come a long way from her very first
fight at the WKA 2010 North American tournament,
winning the Novice Muay Thai division at -110 pounds
to winning her pro debut by unanimous decision on
Lions Fights out in Vegas back in November.
Thus far, Hill has competed in Muay Thai, although
more recently, she has been adding Jiu-Jitsu and
wrestling to her training regimen, hoping to secure an
MMA fight soon. Though her first love was Muay Thai,
and she recognizes the possibilities in such largely
popular promotions as Lions Fights and Glory
Promotions, Angela also sees the popularity MMA has
gained, and with a -115 pound weight class added into
the UFC lately, she wants to seize every opportunity
she can to make a name for herself.
She began her training just to get in a workout and to
find something to keep her interest. Like many martial
artists, she found herself addicted to the training
and the sport. Sparring, she noticed herself catching
up to more advanced teammates who had formerly given
her a run for her money. At this point, she thought,
“I might be all right at it.” When her coach Brandon
Levi offered her the opportunity to fight at WKA North
Americans, she was excited. After a few wins, she
decided, not unreasonably, that she was good at it,
and to her opponents’ detriment, decided to keep
going. Her training naturally (though with much hard
work) evolved from a hobby to a very successful full
time professional fight career.
Angela’s goals are ever-evolving with new
opportunities presenting themselves and new avenues
opening up. One constant goal she has maintained,
though, has been to make a name for herself. She wants
to be someone others can look back on and say, “She
was a great fighter.”
Hill
notes that her gym, coach, and teammates all play a
pivotal role in her training. Coach Brandon Levi sets
the tone for the gym: he’s fun-loving and nonchalant,
but, Hill says, “When it’s time to work, we work!” She
appreciates that he and her fellow teammates take her
just as seriously as her male counterparts, pushing
her just as hard, respecting her just as much, and
supporting her, always coming out en masse to cheer
her on at her fights. She stresses to new fighters
that these factors cannot be taken too lightly. It is
most important, Hill feels, to find a gym that’s a
good fit so that a new fighter is comfortable and will
stay consistent with his or her training. She says
that one must make sure that one can look up to the
other fighters at the gym. Also, she notes wryly that
as fighting is rarely a money-maker, a fighter must do
it for the passion of the sport: “it keeps you going
when you just want to put your gloves down and give
up.”
Angela’s personal style of training and fighting is to
“really put myself out there” and train as hard as she
can. She considers herself an aggressive fighter, but
unlike others, she has the stamina to keep up the
aggression and push the pace the whole fight, using
her power to frustrate her opponent.
We look forward to seeing Angela’s upcoming fight on
February 28 at the Broadstreet Ballroom in New York on
Friday Night Fights, in which she will be fighting a
professional Full Rules Muay Thai 5-round fight
against Canadian opponent Ashley Nichols-Kew.
past fighters of the
month
