Atomweight striker Shir Cohen is fighting to provide a better life for her family.
At ONE Fight Night 25: Nicolas vs. Eersel II on Prime Video, the 23-year-old phenom will look to make it 3-0 in the world’s largest martial arts organization when she takes on decorated Scottish superstar Amy Pirnie in a pivotal Muay Thai bout, live in U.S. primetime on October 4 from Bangkok’s Lumpinee Stadium.
For Cohen, that fight will be her opportunity to further assert herself as one of Muay Thai’s top talents – and a victory could put her within reach of reigning ONE Women’s Atomweight Muay Thai World Champion Allycia Hellen Rodrigues.
Along with her meteoric rise in martial arts, the young Israeli is determined to support and inspire her loved ones and fans back home. This is Cohen’s journey to the bright lights of ONE Championship.
‘It’s Never Been Easy’
The second oldest in a family of four children, Cohen grew up just outside of Tiberias, Isreal. Her childhood was marked by divorce, with her parents splitting up when she was a teen, leaving her to look after her ill mother and siblings.
Life, she told onefc.com, has often been difficult:
“I can say in general that I come from a broken home, even these days. My parents are divorced, and my mom is very sick these days, for the last about eight years. I’d rather not say too much about it, but I will just say that she’s very sick, and she’s struggling a lot.
“So I think, of course, it made me stronger, and I’m grateful for everything. But yeah, it’s never been easy in my home.”
Cohen started training kickboxing at 15, shortly after her parents divorced.
Because the striking arts are so popular in Israel, she quickly realized that fighting could be her ticket out of poverty and a viable way to support her struggling family.
That goal of improving life for her mother and siblings remains her driving force today:
“Training, I can say it gave me a lot of power and motivation for a better future. I believed that someday I can make money off it and – not only the money, you know, but I knew that this sport will take me to a better future, a better place in the future.
“And now, I’m starting to feel it, and I hope to help my mom and my siblings as well. So, this is a big motivation for me. I think this is the thing that I want the most.”
Finding Confidence In Kickboxing
Cohen admits that, initially, she was drawn to kickboxing as an outlet to help her process her parents’ divorce. What’s more, her struggles at home led to insecurity, which in turn led to bullying at school.
Fortunately, martial arts gave her the confidence she so dearly needed and turned her life around:
“I started training because I felt lost, and as a child, I was very insecure and very not confident. I didn’t have many friends, even in school. I’ve never been the popular kid, and I used to get bullied sometimes from other girls or boys. I never stood up for myself, and I never had someone to stand up for me.
“So, this, and the home, and everything together just brought me to martial arts, and this was when I started to feel like I have something in myself. I have power. I have strength in myself and I’m worthy.”
A gifted athlete with an innate knack for hand-to-hand combat, Cohen quickly shot up the amateur ranks.
As a teen, she won European and World Kickboxing Championships. Then in 2022, she traveled to the United States, where she claimed gold at the World Games – one of the planet’s biggest events for a non-Olympic sport.
Those accolades cemented the young striker as an elite talent with legitimate potential to make waves on the international professional scene. Still determined to provide a better life for her family, Cohen made the switch to professional Muay Thai, instantly becoming one of the sport’s top prospects.
She looked back at that decision:
“I always had the dream of turning pro. But I felt that, OK, now I really want to grow, to move forward, and most of all, I just want to make money and make, you know, just better, better living.
“So, that was my decision to go pro.”
Finding A Second Family At Fairtex
Prior to her statement-making performance at the World Games, Cohen moved to Thailand in 2021 to sharpen her skills at the famed Fairtex Training Center.
In addition to training alongside ONE superstars like three-sport queen Stamp Fairtex and former ONE Women’s Strawweight Muay Thai World Champion Smilla Sundell, the Israeli learns daily from the legendary Fairtex founder simply known as “Mr. Wong.”
Cohen says the guidance she’s received from Mr. Wong – both inside and outside of the ring – has been invaluable:
“The best thing about Fairtex is Mr. Wong. I talk about it, and I’m shivering because he has such a good heart, and he really wants to help fighters. He’s doing so much for Muay Thai.
“I can say personally, ever since I came to Fairtex, he’s just been there for me, for everything. Even if I had a problem in my home, if I have money problems, he’s always been supporting me because he sees that I really want it, and I really work hard to provide for my family and my mom and my sister.
“I want to provide them a better life and support. I give everything for this, and he helps me with everything.”
Making Israel Proud
While she’s currently living in Thailand, Cohen hasn’t forgotten about her Israeli roots.
Muay Thai and kickboxing are big sports in her native country, so it’s no surprise that she feels an outpouring of support each time she competes against the planet’s best strikers in ONE:
“I get a lot of support from people that saw me for the first time fighting at ONE Championship, and suddenly, they’re all very, very excited about it.
“Since I’m the only Israeli fighting in ONE Championship, it’s also a big pride for them. A big thing. So, it just gives me so much power, you know? A lot of power.”
Driven by her desire to improve her family’s life and fueled by the unending support, Cohen looks to be well on her way to fighting for a coveted ONE World Title.
She’ll first have to get past a multiple-time World Champion in Pirnie at ONE Fight Night 25, but she will go into that bout with plenty of motivation.
With that in mind, Cohen sent a message to her fans:
“I just want to say for all my fans in Israel and all the fans around the world – I get a lot of messages from Jewish people around the world who watch me fight – they say that I give them a lot of pride, and I just want to say thank you. You give me a lot of strength, and I just know that I will do my best.”
