01
2013
The night she decided
Vanessa Romanowski was eight, on a family trip to Thailand, when she watched a girl her own age fight Muay Thai. For most visitors it would have been an evening out. She went back to the hotel having decided what she wanted to do.
By the time the family landed in Sweden, she had asked her parents to find her a gym.
02
2013-2015
Stockholm and Khao Lak
Her parents signed her up at a Muay Thai club in Stockholm. Within a year she was training in Thailand too, at Rawai Muay Thai, where, as it turned out, the girl she had watched from outside the ropes trained too. They became friends and still are.
That fighter's father became Vanessa's coach and has guided her for twelve years. The girl herself is now a multiple world champion and an RWS belt holder.
Vanessa has stayed with Rawai the whole time, and with Allstars Training Center in Stockholm, where she has trained alongside some of the best fighters and coaches in Europe.
03
2016-2019
Two flags, three countries
She was born in Stockholm to Polish parents and holds dual citizenship. Poland was always in the house: family, grandparents, language, holidays.
So she went and won the Polish National Championship and the Polish Cup in Muay Thai. Today she walks out with both flags. In Poland she is treated as Polish, in Sweden as Swedish, and in Khao Lak she has been part of the gym since she was nine.
04
2016-2022
What it cost
While her classmates were out, she was finishing a second session or going home early because there was another one in the morning.
Diet, recovery, two sessions a day, a calendar built around fight dates. From thirteen onwards that was normal.
It made school complicated, and it split her friends into two groups: the ones at the gym who understood the schedule, and the ones outside it who kept getting turned down. She kept going anyway.
By the numbers
- 50+
- Amateur bouts
- 6
- World golds
- 15
- Pro fights
- 2
- Stadium belts
05
2024
Joanna Jędrzejczyk
Growing up, Vanessa watched every Joanna Jędrzejczyk fight. Here was a woman from Poland who had become one of the best fighters in the world.
Years later Joanna noticed her and said publicly that she saw someone who could carry Polish women's combat sport at world level.
In 2024 she became Vanessa's manager. Vanessa joined her team and has the backing of the JJ Foundation. They work together and they are friends.
06
2016-2026
People have been watching a long time
Tens of thousands of people follow her career. Most of them have been watching since she was a junior.
She has been covered on television, radio, in print and on podcasts in both Poland and Sweden, appeared live from training camps in Thailand, and competed and trained inside the ONE Championship environment.
That showed her exactly what the top of the sport looks like, and what she still has to do to belong there.
07
Today
The contrast
Outside the gym she works with brands, travels, and has an interest in fashion and health that has nothing to do with fighting.
Then she walks to the ring, and a week later there is a photo of her with a cut eyebrow and a broken nose, still going.
08
Next
What's next
With her education finished, she trains full time and works with a nutritionist and a strength and conditioning coach.
She has been preparing for MMA for several years. The striking is world class; the wrestling and grappling are being built. The target is the biggest MMA organisations in the world.
Alongside that she is putting together international training camps in Thailand, Poland and Sweden, to teach what twelve years in the sport have taught her.
