{"id":803186,"date":"2026-07-16T04:08:45","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T04:08:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/803186\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T04:08:45","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T04:08:45","slug":"before-christy-martin-sydney-sweeney-trained-in-mma-inside-the-euphoria-stars-jujutsu-grappling-and-kickboxing-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/803186\/","title":{"rendered":"Before Christy Martin, Sydney Sweeney trained in MMA: Inside the Euphoria star’s jujutsu, grappling and kickboxing journey |"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BeforeImage credit: Instagram\/@sydney_sweeney Sydney Sweeney around was just 12 when she pleaded with her parents to let her pursue acting, full-time. The Euphoria star\u2019s plea was accepted by her parents and she was driven to LA for auditioning nearly for two years.The Emmy nominated actress often makes headlines for being too pretty, glamorous, but very few people are aware of her striking MMA training. Yes, Sydney Sweeney started practicing martial arts when she was 14 years old.As per Women’s Health, she grew her interest in MMA when she moved to LA as a teen.\u201cI really wanted to find something that was as physically challenging as everything [back home],\u201d she said. \u201cSome of my guy friends were MMA training, and they were doing grappling, and I was like, ‘This is so cool.’\u201dIn 2018, Sydney told Marie Claire, “It was a grappling competition against all guys a weight category above me, and I got first place. Those guys were probably saying, \u2018Oh, we didn\u2019t want to hurt her,\u2019 but they were definitely trying. Everyone broke a sweat!\u201d she said.How Milind Soman stays fit at 60: The actor’s minimalist routine includes barefoot runs, yoga, bodyweight workouts and simple eating<\/a>While appearing on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” in 2021, Sweeney said she once trained with professional wrestler Ronda Rousey’s Senseis.Once she visited a local dojo with some friends, she knew she’d found her niche.\u201cIt\u2019s a sisterhood and a brotherhood amongst the fighters and the trainers,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s such a beautiful community of people who have each other\u2019s backs, and you learn discipline and you learn respect,” she told the publication.Sadly her acting career acted as a barrier in the way of her MMA training. In Kelly Clarkson, she highlighted that she often isn\u2019t allowed to practice while she\u2019s working.\u201cUnfortunately, you sign a little piece of paper that says you\u2019re not to do X, Y, and Z and I am all of X, Y, and Z,\u201d she explained.For her role of Christy Martin Sydney bulked up around 30 pounds to play the role of a boxer.”It was probably one of the most amazing, fun experiences,” Sydney exclusively told E! News\u2019 Francesca Amiker ahead of the world premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 5.”I was a very happy person, and I became so strong. I felt so good. I mean, I just felt Christy’s power.\u201dThe role of Christy Martin made her practise boxing a lot and the character stood out from her usual Hollywood persona.In the Live Kelly and Mark podcast, in 2023, while asked about what martial arts training she went through? Sydney mentioned jujutsu, grappling and kickboxing.<\/p>\n

What are martial arts?<\/p>\n

According to Britannica, martial arts are of two types, armed and unarmed. The armed forces include sports like archery, spearmanship and swordmanship. On the other hand, unarmed, which originated in China emphasizes striking with the feet and hands or grappling.Sydney mentioned a number of martial arts that she practised. Let’s have a look at them.<\/p>\n

Jujutsu<\/p>\n

It is a kind of martial art that evolved among the warrior class of Japan around the 17th century.The sport is a ruthless style designed to complement a warrior\u2019s swordsmanship in combat.Jujitsu, a general name, stands for many systems of fighting involving techniques of hitting, kicking, kneeing, throwing, choking, immobilizing holds, and use of certain weapons.<\/p>\n

Grappling<\/p>\n

Grappling is a close-contact fighting style where fighters incorporate their hands and body to control their opponent.Instead of punching or kicking from a distance, they try to take the opponent down, gain a better position, and stop them from attacking.The main aim is to stay in control and, if possible, make the opponent give up by applying a submission hold like a choke or joint lock. This is a sport of strength, skill and smart thinking.<\/p>\n

Kickboxing<\/p>\n

Kickboxing emerged from a blend of traditional martial arts and modern competition formats.Its roots stretch back to Japanese full contact karate in the 1960s, influenced by Muay Thai in Thailand. Around the same time in the United States, full contact karate tournaments were evolving into structured ring sports with gloves, timed rounds and weight classes.By the 1970s and 1980s, kickboxing had grown into a recognised international combat sport. Rule sets diversified. Some formats emphasised continuous action. Others, such as pointfighting, focused on speed, timing and precision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Image credit: Instagram\/@sydney_sweeney Sydney Sweeney around was just 12 when she pleaded with her parents to let her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":803187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,376312,786,376314,785,376311,376313,85,376310],"class_list":["post-803186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-euphoria-actress-martial-arts","tag-fighting","tag-jujutsu-training-sydney-sweeney","tag-mma","tag-mma-journey-sydney-sweeney","tag-ronda-rousey-training-experience","tag-sports","tag-sydney-sweeney-mma-training"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/803187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}