Former Miss United States trades crown for cage fighting
AUSTIN, TX (KTRK) -- In the shadows of this Austin kickboxing gym, training means taking lots of tough hits. Whitney Miller stands out there with her pink boxing gloves.
While she's no stranger to competition, she is used to competing in four inch heels, not barefoot.
Miller was Miss Texas USA in 2012 and went on to win the national title. The former professional wake surfer is familiar with discipline and hard work. But fighting? Not so much.
"I'd never even been punched in the face," Miller said.
That's not the case anymore.
"I have bruises all over my legs, my arms, back. It doesn't feel good to get punched in the face or choked out or arm barred," she said.
She is training to be a mixed martial arts fighter. The full contact combat sport allows both striking and grappling techniques, which has recently risen in popularity.
"This last tournament we had an incident where I broke a girl's arm, on accident, and I was just in tears," Miller confessed.
Her ultimate goal is to compete in a cage fight. But why would she risk her beautiful face?
"Fighting - one of the reasons I'm so drawn to it is because it's real, it's raw," she said. "I really wanted to inspire people and show them that you don't have to stay in the box that society says oh no you have to stay in there."
It took her MMA trainer a few minutes to wrap his head around the idea that this fighter in training had recently taken off her crown.
"I was like 'What, she's a what? Really? Oh wow.' I didn't think a beauty queen could be that cool and down to earth," trainer Nick Gonzalez said.
He said he wouldn't have taken her on if he didn't believe in her.
"You can't just be like a person going through the motions and talking about it; there has to be something extra inside, and she has that," Gonzalez said.
Even though she has what it takes, she does still get teased for her pink gloves and mouthpiece.
Training is hours a day - from strength training to kickboxing, and on to an evening Jiu-Jitsu class.
Miller is quickly changing the minds of people around the gym, even a former Jiu-Jitsu world champion.
"My first vision I thought it might be a girl this size here. Don't touch my hair or touch me," trainer Paulo Brandao said. "She's aggressive and wants to train all the time."
Her trainers believe if she stays on track, the sky is the limit. Miller has set specific goals for herself, but she says she wants to inspire others.
"Just go and do it. Just do whatever that little voice in your mind is telling you to do. So many times, we push it away, we push it away. One day it's going to become so loud and it might be too late," she said.
The next stop on her journey will take her to Thailand for several weeks of intense training with the hopes of climbing into that MMA cage one day very soon.
To follow her journey, click here.
