Even while on a family trip to Thailand, with a wedding anniversary and two birthdays to celebrate, Cat and Mauricio Zingano are each leading Mixed Martial Arts seminars at Tiger Muay Thai and MMA Training Camp in Phuket, Thailand.
To cap it all off, Cat Zingano is marking the occasion the only way she knows how – by making her Muay Thai debut at the end of June, just days before her birthday.
“We’re still trying to make this a vacation, trying to do everything sightseeing wise,” Cat said. “But as soon as you get (to TMT), it just draws you in and I want to do everything now including fight.”
Hailed as the top female MMA fighter in the world at 125-pounds (57-Kilos), Cat Zingano was also named Colorado’s “Female Professional Fighter of the Year” in 2011 by ATO Colorado MMA and Ink’d Out Apparel. Her husband, Mauricio Zingano, owns several BJJ gyms in Colorado and was also named “Coach of the Year” in 2011.
“(Zingano BJJ) only lost about two times last year out of over 60 fights I believe,” Mauricio, a 3rd degree Black Belt said. “Promoters started leaving us messages saying they didn’t want to fight our guys anymore.”
With their 5 year-old son Brayden in tow, the Zingano’s are enjoying their month-long trip to Thailand, including the three week stretch at TMT where training is always on the agenda.
Still, the family of three are marking some important occasions including Mauricio’s 36th birthday which took place only two days before the couple’s two-year wedding anniversary in mid-June. The couple met in 2007 at Mauricio’s gym while Cat was visiting a friend who was training.
“I met Mauricio as I walked all over the mat with my shoes,” Cat said with a laugh, “He convinced me to come in for a week and I loved it. We started dating about six months later and the rest is history.”
The love the two share, along with their son, helps fuel Cat as she goes through her first Muay Thai fight. Competing has become somewhat of a habit during the couple’s travels.
“It’s one of those things where she competes in the native sports on their turf,” Mauricio said, reminiscing about her BJJ fight in Brazil a while back.
Though Zingano BJJ offers world class Muay Thai training led by former world champion Sakmongkol, Cat believes the timing is right to finally to put on the gloves and compete with eight limbs.
“My family’s here, the stresses are gone, the balance is right,” Cat said, “I think it’s going to be fun. I’m excited to see what I can get out of all of it. I just want to perform at my best.”
