Shir Cohen has all the motivation she needs to make it big in ONE Championship. With a win in her atomweight Muay Thai battle with surging Scottish standout Amy Pirnie at ONE Fight Night 25: Nicolas vs. Eersel II on October 4, the Israeli star can take a huge leap forward in her goal of bringing ONE World Title gold, and a measure of hope, back to her home country.
Cohen grew up in Tiberias, Israel, where her parents’ separation and her mother’s illness left her and her three siblings with responsibilities beyond their years.
“I can say in general that I come from a broken home, even these days. My parents are divorced and my mom is very sick these days, for the last about eight years. I started training because I felt lost and as a child, I was very insecure and very not confident. I didn’t have many friends, even in school. I’ve never been the popular kid and I used to get bullied sometimes from other girls or boys. I never stood up for myself and I never had someone to stand up for me,” she told onefc.com.
At 15 years old, however, Cohen found a new direction in life. Desperate for an outlet away from the hardships of daily life, the 23-year-old found solace in martial arts. The grind of training and the confidence that it instilled in the quiet teenager proved a turning point.
Before long, she was competing in the ring. As an amateur she won European and World Kickboxing Championships, before she made the move to Thailand to train at the famed Fairtex Training Center and pursue her passion as a professional. Less than 10 fights into her career in the paid ranks, she was invited to the Road to ONE: Thailand tournament in 2023.
Cohen would win the high-stakes tournament as a relative unknown, netting herself a US$100,000 contract with ONE. Now, she has never been closer to her ultimate goal of providing for her family.
“So, this and the home and everything together just brought me to martial arts and this was when I started to feel like I have something in myself, I have power. I have strength in myself and I’m worthy. I can say it gave me a lot of power and motivation for a better future. I believed that someday I can make money off it and – not only the money, you know, but I knew that this sport would take me to a better future. Now, I’m starting to feel it and I hope to help my mom and my siblings as well. So, this is a big motivation for me. I think this is the thing that I want the most,” she said.
Cohen has made a stunning start to her career in ONE Championship. The Fairtex Training Center representative introduced herself to the martial arts giant with a crushing knockout win over Teodora Kirilova this past March, before she followed up with an equally impressive unanimous decision win over Chile’s Francisca Vera in August.
https://twitter.com/ONEChampionship/status/1766277711922618389
Having an Israeli doing big things on a global platform, she says, has created a real buzz back in her homeland. One that she’s desperate to continue to feed through her exploits in the ring.
“I get a lot of support from people that saw me for the first time fighting on ONE Championship and suddenly they’re all very, very excited about it. Since I’m the only Israeli fighting in ONE Championship it’s also, like, a big pride for them. A big thing. So, it just gives me so much power, you know, a lot of power,” she said.
Watch ONE Friday Fights 81 live on Friday, September 27, on watch.onefc.com at 8:30 a.m. ET/5:30 a.m. PT
