EXCLUSIVE
Kaz Crossley is part of a new wave of MMA reporters.
The reality TV star admits she wasn’t really into combat sports until a few years ago, but now she’s gearing up to cover UFC 304 as an official member of the media.
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Crossley first became known to the British public when she appeared on season four of ITV’s smash-hit dating show, Love Island, and made it to the final in 2018, which was won by Dani Dyer.
The 29-year-old was catapulted into a celebrity lifestyle after claiming third place with her former partner Josh Denzel, who has also found success in sports presenting.
Crossley had a very different career plan when she first left the Love Island villa.
"Before Love Island, I was a make-up artist," she told talkSPORT.com.
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“I did music videos, and quite a few famous people [like current Love Island host] Maya Jama and [singer] Emeli Sande. I did fashion shows and I was really obsessed with make-up and beauty, and all that stuff.”
After breaking up with Denzel, Crossley wanted to try something new and decided to give Muay Thai a go - now it’s become her favourite thing to do.
Crossley said: “I had seen Muay Thai because my mum is Thai, and I have been to Thailand a lot.
“So, I always seen it and I thought I just wanted to do something different to distract myself.”
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The Manchester-based Londoner shared her training videos with the 1.1 million people who follow her on Instagram, and they loved them.
It didn’t take long for her message requests folder to fill with women looking to get into combat sports, but many of them didn’t feel they had a place where they could train.
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So, Crossley created ‘The Combat Collective’, which has become the UK’s premier community for women who want to embrace fight sports.
“I was actually getting good, and people were seeing that,” Kaz explained.
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“A lot of women reached out to me like, 'I really want to do what you’re doing, but how can I get into Muay Thai?' That is when I started Combat Collective, which is my women-only Muay Thai community.
“It’s combat sports, but we started predominantly doing Muay Thai. Now I do retreats, classes and courses all over the UK for women only.
“That’s how I got into woman empowerment and women in combat sports stuff. It’s crazy how things just roll and change with what you’re doing in life.”
Crossley is famously friends with PFL star Brendan Loughnane, but she didn’t truly embrace the sport of MMA until she attended her first UFC event in March 2022.
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Now she’s the MMA reporter for Title Sports Network and looking forward to covering the UFC’s first event in Manchester since 2016 next weekend.
"Since COVID I started getting into watching MMA,” Crossley said.
“I was obsessed with Muay Thai and then I discovered MMA and was like, ‘Wow! What is this?’
“I went to UFC London, the first one back after they had three years off, and that was just a crazy, crazy experience. That’s when I got obsessed with it.
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“Now I’m interviewing these fighters and I’ve been a fan of this sport. It might be for long, just the last couple of years, but I’m definitely passionate about it.
“I interviewed Justin Gaethje, and Tom Aspinall – the other day I was at Leon Edwards’ gym.
"It’s crazy because this year I made a vision board of all the things I want to do. I put UFC, and PFL logos and a little microphone there because I just wanted to manifest it and I basically did.
"This is my first time going as media. I’m so excited. I’ve done all the UFC London shows ever since it’s been back, and I’ve gone as a fan.
“I’m still going as a fan, but I’ll be working. I’m super excited."
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The UFC 304 event will be headlined by welterweight champion Edwards against Belal Muhammad. The pair previously met in 2021 but the fight was declared a no contest due to an accidental eye poke which left Muhammad unable to continue.
Aspinall, meanwhile, is taking on Curtis Blaydes in the co-main event and also at the Manchester event, which will begin in the early hours of Sunday morning, is Paddy Pimblett against Bobby Green.