Jackie Hughes was a fighter in one of the most brutal sports of all — Muay Thai.
It is a discipline that involves stand-up striking, where blows are delivered not only by fists, but by elbows, knees and shins.
After coming away with a clean victory in her very first local match four years ago, the 36-year-old Adelaide woman showed all the promise of an up-and-coming talent.
A concussion preceding her fourth scheduled fight, however, changed her path forever.
Sustaining blows to the head through strikes had Jackie questioning the risks of repetitive concussive damage.
This eventually led her to transition out of strike sports altogether and find a new calling in what she describes as a "safer" combat sport.
Together with husband Nick Hughes, Jackie has since poured her heart and soul into what the couple call "submission grappling" – a combat sport with a focus on jujitsu and wrestling that involves no striking, no knockouts, and no unnecessary risk of concussive damage.
The couple has since built their own academy with the goal of teaching others that a passion for fight sports does not have to come at the cost of their own safety.
The culture of silence around concussions
Jackie has come a long way when it comes to understanding combat sports and concussive injury.
Describing the lead-up to her second Muay Thai bout, Jackie said she was "going through a few concussions".
"I had a concussion two weeks from fight date and I just didn't tell anyone because I didn't want them to pull my fight," she said.
Remaining silent about a concussion is common in fight sports.
Stephanie Convery, a journalist who authored a book titled After The Count about the death of Sydney boxer Davie Browne in 2015, writes that statistics around concussive injury in combat sports are often inadequately captured.
Concussion is sometimes concealed from coaches because it can be perceived as weakness. Not only that, but the symptoms are poorly understood so can easily go undetected.
The decision to not speak up about her concussion was something that led Jackie to reflect more deeply on her relationship with strike sports and the culture of acceptance around head injuries.
"After my fight I had a really good look at that," she said.
"I'm a bit older, I'm 36 now, and you just should be telling your coaches when those things happen."
"After that it was pretty clear that's dangerous behaviour.
"I like fighting, don't get me wrong, [but] when we look at long-term brain damage from concussive episodes, it's a real thing."
A safe environment
Meeting now-husband Nick played a role in changing Jackie's trajectory.
Nick used to be the head coach at a Mixed Martial Arts school and had similar reservations to Jackie. He was concerned whether he should continue to train others in a sport that could jeopardise their safety.
By August 2021, the couple had decided they wanted to open up their own academy, moving away from strike sports entirely and focusing exclusively on submission grappling. The MatLab opened in April 2022.
In recent years, Australia has seen a wave of new interest in submission combat sports such as jujitsu.
According to data from Smoothcomp, the platform used to register combat sport competitions including jiujitsu or grappling, in 2018 there were 32 competition events held across Australia and in 2022 that number increased to 229.
Part of their popularity can be attributed to the fact that submission combat sports place the competitor in less immediate danger than boxing, Muay Thai and other mixed martial arts.
"You can't strike them," said Nick, who is the head coach at The MatLab.
"[Rather], you engage in a system of positional-based grappling tactics to control and subdue your opponent."
This is often referred to colloquially as "pin and win" in grappling – a stark contrast to the MMA adage to "ground and pound".
As a coach, Nick carries the responsibility of keeping his students and competitors safe but his coaching style encourages those he trains to familiarise themselves with concepts around safety, rule sets and an awareness that a submission can be won without force.
The academy as a whole has stayed true to the couple's original vision and concept.
"We wanted it to be a hub where people can come and learn," Jackie said.
Johanna Aldersey, a 29-year-old woman, who has been practising grappling for five years, said she first came to The MatLab because she was drawn to Nick's coaching style.
Although Johanna regularly competes at local and state levels, she enjoys the community aspect of training daily.
"It [is] just like catching up with friends every day," Johanna said.
"There's an element of playfulness to it. You're doing something that can seem aggressive [but] it's like play fighting. You're coming here and play fighting with your friends and I really enjoy that."
Consensual defeat is a safeguard inherent to the sport
Submission grappling, as practised by Jackie and Nick, and taught at their academy, allows a losing opponent to maintain a degree of control.
Grappling centres around the idea of a "submission", meaning that although competitors play for points, the unequivocal victory is awarded when one of the competitors is unable or unwilling to continue and can "tap out" to indicate this.
The fight ends when a competitor consents to their own defeat.
Submission holds are based on anatomy and leverage. The armbar is a good example of this, in which the elbow joint of an opponent is locked into position by pinching the arm between a competitor's legs.
The pressure exerted on the joint is enough to be felt and recognised by the defending competitor before a break needs to be forced.
The brutality and suddenness of a knockout are therefore entirely avoided. Recognising the threat of a break in the body or the onset of a choke before it happens is key to playing the game.
"When engaging in grappling, the tap or submission is always respected," Nick said.
"Injuries certainly can occur as this is a full-contact competitive sport, however, if a practitioner directly chose not to recognise the tap of an opponent, they would be banned from participating."
"If a practitioner receiving the submission chooses not to tap, they are making a choice to face serious injury. I would never, ever knowingly allow a student to choose injury. There would be a discussion had with them if they were still of that mindset."
Because grappling favours technique over strength, women like Jackie are able to train alongside men and not necessarily feel disadvantaged.
At 162 centimetres and currently competing in the under 66-kilogram weight class, she hopes this fact will continue to draw more women to the sport.
"I like the technical side of grappling," Jackie said.
"I think you can out-technique [an opponent].
"As a smaller competitor, a lot of the time we're not going to out-muscle the 80-90kg dudes but it doesn't mean that we can't win technically.
"A lot of our training partners are going to be guys — it's a male-dominated sport — [but] if we truly look at the breakdown of grappling itself, there's no reason why we can't submit the heavier male counterparts. And as a smaller female, there's nothing more satisfying."
Both Jackie and Johanna not only survive in the world of submission grappling, they thrive in it.
A combat sport that doesn't seek to test the boundaries of safety can ultimately give competitors – both male and female – a chance to find their place in it.
ABC Sport is partnering with Siren Sport to elevate the coverage of Australian women in sport.
Zayda Dollie is a sports journalist who believes in the power of athlete storytelling and having female voices heard. Her stories can be read on The Roar, Independent Australia and ABC Sport.
