Celine Haga can take a punch: literally and figuratively.
She’s a 35-year-old mixed martial arts fighter based out of New Mexico’s renowned Jackson Wink MMA Academy in Albuquerque, New Mexico and has traveled the world, spent months in hospital with a broken face, and lost more fights than she can remember in the process of eventually becoming one of MMA’s best women fighters.
Born in South Korea, but adopted by parents in Norway, Celine was a terrible athlete growing up. She failed PE and was rejected from the Norwegian Army but eventually found jujitsu because she wanted to learn self defense. After the first class she fell in love and quickly progressed. Jujitsu also helped her meet underground MMA fighters in Norway, where the sport was still illegal. She trained with the fighters in a basement under an old mall in Oslo but still wanted more.
That’s when she came across Megumi Fujii, Japan’s most famous female MMA fighter. Inspired, Celine decided to move to Japan to train with her, even though she knew no one and she didn’t speak Japanese. Megumi didn’t speak English or Norwegian, either, but the two hit it off in the gym and Celine would go on to spend three years going back and forth between Norway and Japan.
It was a rough time in Celine’s career. She was getting better, but lost 11 of her first 12 fights. That kind of record would have inspired many to quit, but Celine said she found something to hold onto or be inspired by, even in a loss.
"Inside of me I was like, ‘I can do this.’ Every loss I learned something, and it helped me change my training,” she says.
To get better, Celine kept training and also dove into sports psychology to increase her focus and confidence. And eventually it worked. After losing 11 fights, she went on to win nine of her next 11 fights and eventually beat one of Japan’s top fighters. That was good for her confidence, but bad for her career. Japanese promoters stopped giving her fights, except one where the opponent snuck something illegal into her glove that she used to break the orbital bone in Celine’s face. That landed Celine in the hospital for three months and gave her double vision for a year.
Celine eventually moved back to Norway, but wanted to keep training. She Googled MMA gyms and eventually came across Jackson Wink. She wrote, they agreed to let her try out for three months, and those three months eventually turned into five and a half years. She currently lives at the gym and trains almost every day.
“I fell in love with Jackson Wink and it’s completely changed my life,” she says.
For Celine, the gym is a perfect fit because it’s stacked with many of the country’s top fighters who she can train with and who push her every day.
“When we are sparring I sometimes hate these people because they are trying to tear my head off,” she says. “But you have to get better, and these people want to help you get better. It’s just good to be around people who have the same vision as you.”
Fight wise, Celine’s career has still been bumpy. Opponents are hesitant to get in the ring with her because she’s talented. And even if the opponent wins, they don’t get the accolades they want because Celine’s record is mixed after all her early-career losses. But that hasn’t stopped Celine from doing everything she can to get better and to get good fights. She has some unfinished career goals in the MMA, but she also has some unfinished personal goals that she’s pursuing with the same tenacity she’s brought to her entire career.
“I want to keep fighting for three or four more years,” she says. “I want to be able to live up to my own potential. I feel like I still haven’t done that. The motivation is still inside me. I wake up every morning and I’m super excited.”
We’re proud to support Celine, who’s long used Taos Bakes to refuel during her workouts.
