{"id":850063,"date":"2026-08-10T08:50:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T08:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/850063\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T08:50:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T08:50:09","slug":"spennymoor-mma-athlete-prepares-to-represent-england-on-the-world-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/850063\/","title":{"rendered":"Spennymoor MMA athlete prepares to represent England on the world stage"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Spennymoor<\/a> mixed martial artist is preparing to represent Team England on the world stage.<\/p>\n

Simone Abley, 26, from Spennymoor, has been selected to represent Team England at the International Mixed Martial Arts World Championships in the country of Georgia this November.<\/p>\n

Ms Abley has performed martial arts since she was four years old and began training in MMA in 2020.<\/p>\n

Simone Abley from Spennymoor will be competing in the MMA IMMAF World Championships later this year in Georgia. (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)<\/p>\n

She said: “I’m excited because I’ve not been to a major tournament in MMA yet.<\/p>\n

“I’ve done taekwondo since I was four-years-old and started MMA in 2020.”<\/p>\n

Her selection followed two evaluation days with Team England.<\/p>\n

(Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)<\/p>\n

Ms Abley said: “A week later, I found out I was going.<\/p>\n

“There will be a few sessions with Team England and then there will be a knockout-style tournament where you fight your way to the final.<\/p>\n

“I was so excited when I was picked because I’ve not had much booked in and I knew if I was picked for this there would be guaranteed fights.”<\/p>\n

She currently works at a school but plans to leave in September to focus on training full-time at TFT Gym in Seaham.<\/p>\n

(Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)<\/p>\n

Ms Abley said: “I eventually want to move to the professional ranks and then make my way to the top.<\/p>\n

“Getting to the UFC is my ultimate goal.”<\/p>\n

To help cover the cost of travelling to Georgia, she has launched a GoFundMe and is organising several fundraising events.<\/p>\n

Ms Abley will host a ‘Women’s Empowerment Day’ next month at NW Fitness in Barnfield Road, a women-only gym in Spennymoor.<\/p>\n

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The event will include a fitness and self-defence class followed by coffee and cake.<\/p>\n

She said: “It’s important for me to run my Women’s Empowerment Day because I want to create a safe, supportive community where women can build confidence, improve their physical and mental wellbeing and connect with like-minded people.<\/p>\n

“It’s an opportunity to inspire women to step outside of their comfort zone, learn new skills and realise they’re stronger and more capable than they think.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Spennymoor mixed martial artist is preparing to represent Team England on the world stage. Simone Abley, 26,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":850064,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,420820,420818,420819,85,406072],"class_list":["post-850063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sarah-caldecott","tag-simone-abley","tag-spennymoor","tag-sports","tag-team-england"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850063","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=850063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/850064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=850063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=850063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=850063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}