Ekaterina “Barbie” Vandaryeva

Three-time Muay Thai World Champion Ekaterina Vandaryeva was dubbed “Barbie” by her teammates due to her beauty and resemblance to the famed doll. She had a normal upbringing, running track & field and playing volleyball, until she started watching police dramas on television and dreamed of joining the police academy. She sought out a martial arts gym to prepare for her chosen path, joining the Kick Fighter gym at the age of 16 because of its reputation as the best Muay Thai gym in Belarus.

Vandaryeva quickly rose through the ranks in her home country, winning her first national championship in Muay Thai when she was 17 years old and dominated the competition over the following years. She won her first World Title by capturing the WMF belt in Thailand in 2009, less than two years after she started training. In addition to multiple Belarusian national and European titles, she added an IFMA World Title to her collection in 2010, and she even defeated Joanna Jedrzejczyk by majority decision in 2011 to capture the WKN World Title.

She is exceptionally tall for her division, and more than a quarter of her career victories to date have come by way of knockout. Vandaryeva entered ONE Championship with one goal at the forefront of her mind – to add a ONE World Title to her already-impressive resume.