‘If One Goes Down, The Rest Have Your Back’ – How Family Taught Amy Pirnie The Meaning Of Loyalty
Amy Pirnie has spent years building her reputation as one of the finest female strikers on the planet, and now she’s bringing her talents to the biggest platform.
The 31-year-old Scottish athlete makes her debut at ONE Fight Night 24: Brooks vs. Balart on Prime Video, and she has a chance to make an immediate impression when she takes on Yu Yau Pui.
Pirnie is no stranger to elite opposition, but her atomweight Muay Thai clash with the surging Hong Kong native on Friday, August 2, will introduce her to the biggest audience yet live in U.S. primetime.
Before the decorated Scot takes to the ring at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, find out how she went from a school kid who just wanted to blend in to a worldwide Muay Thai sensation.
Growing Up In Glasgow’s East End
Pirnie grew up in an area called Dalmarnock in the East End of Glasgow, Scotland, living with her parents and two younger sisters.
Her father was an electrician while her mother worked in factories and at bookmakers. Both did their best to provide for their children in an area not known for its affluence.
Pirnie told onefc.com:
“When I was growing up, it was a pretty deprived area. In my teenage years, everything was getting pulled down to be regenerated for the commonwealth village so there wasn’t a lot happening.
“I had a relatively normal kind of childhood, as you can living in those types of areas in Glasgow. But when I was in primary school, it wasn’t the easiest, and I got bullied and stuff like that.
“When I went to high school I just did what I could to blend in rather than stick out. My focus was mainly on training, getting through my grades, and spending time with my family.”
Pirnie cites family as one of the biggest features in her early life. And not just her own household, but the wider network around here, which gave her comfort and security in her younger years.
She said:
“My family is extremely close. People from the outside see we are super, super close, and that’s not just between my parents and my sisters. That’s my grandparents, my aunties and uncles, my cousins and all that as well. So we’re all very, very tight.”
Too Aggressive For Taekwondo
It was a family connection that got Pirnie started in martial arts.
Describing herself as a hyperactive child, the Glasgow native always loved sports and started playing soccer when one of her aunts signed her up for an all-girls team, but she got bashed around as a smaller member and soon quit.
She tried taekwondo but felt restricted by the lack of full contact training – and then came Muay Thai.
Pirnie recalled:
“I was too aggressive for taekwondo. I got bored quite quickly, and just by chance, I went Muay Thai training with my cousin and uncle. Basically, my uncle started a new job and met my coach Rab [Izat] and took my cousin along to his class. I went along to observe the class. I pretty much started then and never looked back.”
Although Pirnie had never even heard of Muay Thai up until then, she liked what she saw and went headlong into the new sport at the age of 12.
She never missed a session and within six weeks was asked to compete for the first time, and she picked up a debut victory that gave her the hunger for more.
“When I started, I wanted to be the best in the class. I gave it everything because I really enjoyed it, and six weeks in my coach asked me if I wanted to fight.
“Technically, I probably wasn’t the best. But I loved it so quickly that I wanted to prove that I could do it. I think because I put so much into it and I had a lot of heart, that was the reason that my coach put me in for my first fight.
“I don’t even think at that point that I had actually spoken properly to him; I was too shy. When he asked me, I was just nodding my head. And then in the fight, the girl retired in the corner after the first round. I was elated. That feeling was just incredible.”
Family First
At just 12 years old, Pirnie had already found a love for competition and everything else took a backseat to Muay Thai.
But some issues closer to home made things difficult for the youngster when she was starting to make big strides as a competitor.
She explained:
“Growing up, my mom suffered with mental health disorders and she actually ended up with alcohol and drug addiction. That was quite hard. For about three years that was pretty rough, just as I was becoming a teenager.
“It was a big struggle. You have your attention split, so you’re not actually focused on what’s going on and getting good grades, or whether I needed to focus to progress in my sport or social life.
“I felt that really drew my attention all the way back toward essentially trying to look after my mom, which was quite a lot to take on as a young kid. But I wouldn’t change doing what me or my family have done for my mom.”
School, friends, and even Muay Thai seemed insignificant compared to helping her family, but once they were through the worst of it, the situation gave Pirnie more clarity on where she wanted her life to go.
She said:
“There’s so many things to take from the situation, but one of the biggest things is your family, the people that mean everything to you. So if one goes down, the rest have got your back. It really affirmed that family is everything.
“And obviously I realized that there were certain things in life that I wanted and certain things that I didn’t want. I didn’t want to go down the same road. The direction in my life took a completely different turn. I would say that definitely put me on a path where I wanted to do better.
“My mom also showed me that no matter how low you can be and how hard life is, you can be strong and fight in every situation to get where you want to be.”
Coming Back From The Brink
With this fortitude forged from her family’s struggle, Pirnie was not fazed by anything in the ring.
After earning multiple national titles, she went on to win the prestigious IFMAs – even taking a junior and senior gold in the same year – and then cemented her status as U.K.’s #1 in her weight division before rising through the ranks internationally.
The 31-year-old won and defended the Lion Fight Title, among others, defeating the likes of Lara Fernandez, Anne Line Hogstad, and more en route to an impressive 23-3-1 slate.
However, COVID, injuries, and some mental health issues almost derailed her career.
“For quite a long time there were some recurring injuries, and I do suffer with my mental health as well. As I got older and more injured, and having that time over COVID, it really hit me pretty hard trying to find my way back. And the more I trained, the more injured I got. So that really affected me mentally and how I felt about coming back.
“There was a point where I was like, ‘I’m finished. I’m retired. I’ve had a good run.’ I did genuinely feel at one point I was going to retire. But I didn’t want to retire not having a fight, like a finale.
“It felt like it was unfinished with my career, as if I hadn’t peaked yet. It almost felt as if it just came to an abrupt stop. And it wasn’t a stop of my choosing.”
Then, after more than three years out, the phone call came from ONE Championship.
With a stunning 19-fight winning streak stretching back to 2013, Pirnie had the excuse to dust off her gloves and finish what she started.
Now edging closer to her return against Yu, the Scot feels physically and mentally strong and has the hunger to showcase what she can do in the world’s largest martial arts organization.
Planning to reach a new high in her career, Pirnie said:
“Even though I had that blip of whether I wanted to go back to it or not, I think that hunger to succeed and to be at the top never goes away. If you’re a hungry person and you’ve got that highly competitive nature, that always comes back really, really quickly. I don’t think it actually leaves. I just think when you’ve got something to work toward, it just heightens it.
“And one thing is that I definitely never go into a fight unprepared. Obviously, I had four years out, but this camp has got me ramped up and ready to go.”
