Shanelle Dyer: Geared for Stardom

The Professional Fighters League could soon find itself in position to strap a rocket to Shanelle Dyer and see just how high she can fly.

Undefeated through four bouts and now firmly established as one of the sport’s top prospects at 125 pounds, Dyer will return to the organization to face Mariam Torchinava in a PFL Europe 2 women’s flyweight quarterfinal on Saturday at the Utilita Arena in Newcastle, England. A decorated muay thai career lit a pathway to mixed martial arts for “The Nightmare,” who, on the surface, barely broke stride while crossing over.

“I’ve had a lot of amateur fights and a lot of amateur experience,” Dyer told Sherdog.com. “I started muay thai when I was about 9 years old, and between the ages of 9 to 18, I had about 100, 150-plus muay thai fights. I’m really seasoned in my muay thai. I retired from muay thai professionally ranked No. 1 in the UK. My striking pedigree is really up there. I had 11 amateur MMA fights. I used to fight all the time. I used to fight at strawweight, at flyweight and everything in between just to get fights, because I really advocate to just gain experience. I would take fights at any weight class.

“I fought all the best girls because I wanted to gain a lot of experience, so when I’m a pro, I've faced all the best grapplers and best strikers,” she added. “I lost some fights and I won some great fights, so I’d be prepared when I turned pro, which I was.”

Behind the scenes, the transition from muay thai MMA was far more difficult.

“I’ve done striking about 10 years,” Dyer said. “It’s hard coming from the top end of one sport all the way down, so I had to really humble myself in that aspect. I remember my first time doing jiu-jitsu class and wrestling class, I would get beaten up by kids, by people that were half my size. What I really like about myself is I’m addicted to learning. Every time I got hurt, every time I got tapped out or submitted, I’d ask myself questions, like how can I get better in that aspect. I’ll always ask my coach, and that’s how I got better in grappling. I’d show up to every single class, regardless if I got smashed or won the rounds. I said before that my striking is really good, so I put my striking basically on hold. I’d only done striking once or twice a week and I’d really done a lot of grappling so my grappling would be on par with my striking, which I think is getting on the same level now.”

Torchina now stands between Dyer and the 125-pound semifinals. The Georgian enters her promotional debut on the strength of five-fight winning streak. Torchina has secured six of her eight career victories by knockout, technical knockout or submission, and while she poses a threat in a variety of areas, she prefers to do business on the ground.

“She fought quite a bit last year,” Dyer said. “We watched a lot of her videos. She’s 100% a grappler. That’s her game plan. If I took this fight years ago, I’d probably be panicking, but now I have confidence in my grappling. I’m happy with my grappling, and I actually think I’m a better grappler than her. I actually don’t think that she has a means to get me into those positions. I don’t think she has great wrestling or striking. It’s basically non-existent. I’m happy wherever the fight goes. I’m confident everywhere.”

Dyer operates out of Great Britain Top Team in London. “It’s a fairly new gym,” she said. “It only opened about two years ago now, but the experience in the gym is second to none.” Ultimate Fighting Championship and World Extreme Cagefighting veteran Brad Pickett fronts the camp. “He’s been there and done that,” Dyer said. “I’ve been working really a lot with him, because obviously coming from a striking background, my wrestling wasn’t really up to par. It’s basically a cheat code because everything I ask him, I know that he knows what he’s talking about. Everything he does actually works.” Pickett, who retired in 2017, has since cemented himself as one of Europe’s top trainers.

The 23-year-old Dyer figures to have homefield advantage against Torchinava. She welcomes the support from her fellow Brits.

“It’s always great not to fly out and fight people in their back garden,” Dyer said. “I’ve been doing that most of my career. I was always the underdog. I was always brought in to lose or brought into someone else’s back garden, somebody else’s home show. Fighting at home, it’s an amazing feeling having the grounds screaming for you. A lot of people said it doesn’t change the outcome of the fight, but when you’re in a grueling position, you’re in the last minutes of the round and you just want to give up, hearing people scream your name just gives you that extra push to win the fight.”