Sport
24 November, 2025
Fighting duo victorious at world championships
CAIRNS athletes Myles Pressley and Cooper Clarke have each claimed victories at the ISKA Muay Thai World Championships held in Brisbane, marking a significant milestone for the city’s combat sports community.
Both fighters are members of the local gym, Pretty Top Team, which runs the ‘Build A Fighter’ program designed to provide people with little or no Muay Thai experience with a structured environment to develop fundamental skills.
Many program participants have gone on to compete in Muay Thai events across Queensland and interstate.
Several other Cairns locals who progressed through the Built 2 Fight program also competed at the ISKA world championships earlier this year.
Dylan Small, who contacted Cairns Local News about the wins, described the athletes as “an incredible example of the heart and spirit of Cairns combat sports”.
Pretty Top Team hosts a local fight show to conclude the development program and showcase participants’ progress.
The gym has held these events over the past three years, with the next show scheduled for 2 December.
Mr Small highlighted the program’s wider benefits, saying it has “provided many people, including myself, an incredible opportunity to learn and develop skills in a thrilling sport and to go on to use those skills in a way that supports the local sports community”.
The success of Myles Pressley, Cooper Clarke and other Built 2 Fight graduates demonstrates the growing strength of Cairns’ combat sports scene, combining elite-level achievement with grassroots development.
The next Built 2 Fight event on 2 December will offer the public a chance to see local fighters showcase the skills they have honed through Pretty Top Team’s program.
