Two in one: Sexy model and Muay Thai fighter on the cover of Sports Illustrated

Charming model Mia Kang from Hong Kong spoke about how Thai boxing changed her life and perception of her own body. The girl has been working in front of cameras since the tender age of 13, but only now, having become a professional Muay Thai fighter, she felt real strength and self-confidence. The result was not long in coming: Mia won a modeling contest and graced the cover of the famous Sports Illustrated edition.

28-year-old Mia Kang is a half—breed beauty: her father is British, and her mother is from South Korea. The girl grew up in Hong Kong and worked as a model from a young age.

Once as a child, Mia struggled with being overweight, she was teased, and she hated herself. As a result, in adolescence, the girl became anorexic.

Working in the modeling business, Mia constantly tried to meet different standards and suffered from rejection of her own body: sometimes she was told that she was too thin, then that she was too fat, too tall or too short, did not look European enough or not too Asian… As a result, the young model had to constantly struggle with nervousness, bulimia, anorexia and depression.

Many people believe that martial arts are not a woman's business. However, Thai boxing completely turned Mia Kang's life around and completely changed her perception of her own body.

It all started with a 10-day trip to Thailand, where the girl went to visit her parents. However, unexpectedly, a short trip turned into a six-month stay in a Thai boxing camp: the girl got to the first training session by accident, but immediately got involved, loving this amazing sport with all her heart.

For four years now, Mia Kang has been practicing Muay Thai, posting photos and videos from her workouts on Instagram.

"Thai boxing has added volume to my body, I have become muscular, my body has become clearer, my abs have appeared," says Mia. — Now, in terms of athletics and fitness, I am able to do things that I didn't even know about before. And as the progress in sports went on, I finally began to accept my body. Thanks to the love and self-respect that Muay Thai gave me, I got a contract with Sports Illustrated, which gave me even more self-confidence."

Now Mia hopes to show her fans around the world by her own example how a healthy lifestyle can change everything. And with Thai boxing, she is more than serious: Mia Kang plans to hold her first professional fight in May this year.

Last year, Mia won the SI Swimsuit Model Search competition for young models, thanks to which she made her debut in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit catalog in 2017.

Here and further — pictures from the Sports Illustrated photo set, which was taken at the beginning of the year in Mexico.