Mel Tan: ONE FC’s Ring Girl is more than eye candy

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Mel Tan: ONE FC’s Ring Girl is more than eye candy

by rick olivares

When I think of Ring Girls for boxing or MMA, they’re pretty and sexy girls who are eye candy to otherwise brutal sports.

However, for Mel Tan, she’s more than perhaps the hottest ONE FC Ring Girl around.

She not only practices Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai, she also does fee diving, trekking, mountain climbing, and running. “Oh, and I used to play basketball when I was in school,” she adds.

Of course. Basketball. How can we forget?

Her interest in martial arts came about when she joined ONE FC in 2014.  “I believe it is only right for me to understand the sport better if I am working with them,” she explains. “And now I have become a fan of the sport.”

The Malaysian beauty is also quick to point to her boyfriend, American MMA instructor Heath Sims who works with the Evolve Mixed Martial Arts Gym in Singapore for pointing her towards a more active and healthy lifestyle. Sims is a former US Olympic wrestling and a six-time US National Champion. “He changed the way I look at a lot of things,” gushes Mel.

Tan used to have a corporate job working in a human resources division but she gave it up to indulge in other pursuits. Back in her native Malaysia, Mel also worked as a model on Deal or No Deal Malaysia and competed in FHM’s Girl Next Door. Now with ONE FC, she has a pretty full schedule considering Asia’s top MMA circuit holds events at least twice a month now.

How does Mel find time for everything in her life?

“Time management,” she offers with a laugh then shakes her head. “Not easy. But it is good to practice that. It teaches you to be more responsible. “I love what I am doing now. Working with ONE FC, doing some modelling. It’s a lot of fun for me. And I get to travel."

Free diving and swimming is one of her passions. She related how she once swam in an aquarium with sharks. “As long as you don’t bother the sharks they won’t bother you,” she reveals. Was she ever afraid?

“Not at all.”

A woman who swims with sharks and practices Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai.

This is one girl who knows how to take care of herself.