Female fighters reveal what life is REALLY like being a woman in the ring - including dealing with sexism, blows to the face and training while on their period

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Female fighters have revealed how they are striving to be taken seriously in the male-dominated sport.

The women are paid far less than their masculine counter-parts and compete after scantily clad 'ring girls' have paraded around in front of them.

They say they are often quizzed on why they would want to train night and day, follow a strict low-carb diet and endure blows to the face that can require stitches. And the answer is simply because they love the sport. 

Model Vogue Williams gets into the cage with professional fighter Catherine Costigan to find out why she loves the male dominated sport so much

Catherine, pictured winning a cage fight, said she loves the buzz she gets from fighting

The latest person to question why they love to fight so much is Irish model Vogue Williams who admits she doesn't understand the attraction of being beaten up. 

She spent four weeks shadowing Ireland's most ambitious female fighters in a new documentary for TLC to find out what makes them tick.

Professional cage fighter Catherine Costigan, from Limerick, says being in the cage feels like 'the most natural feeling' for her.

The mixed martial arts cage fighter has won titles after drawing blood and recently took part in a high profile fight in Las Vegas, which she was disappointed to lose. 

She said the women's sport is growing in popularity but women to train with are few and far between so she mostly trains with men. 

Professional boxer Christina McMahon said women aren't in it for the money (as there isn't much) but for the joy of taking part and the thrill of winning

When it comes to matches, they often have to share changing rooms with the men while the same ring girls in bikinis display their rounds to the crowd, which Vogue felt was 'disrespectful.' 

Catherine said she is used to being surrounded by men in the sport.

'When I went into the class the first time it was me and about ten boys and it was like that for seven to eight years,' she said. 

She explained that for her 'something inside me just clicked' when she first tried the brutal sport - although she even questions her participation in it herself sometimes.

'Before a fight you do start to thing "why am I doing this? Why can't I just be normal?"' she said.

'But then I turn into what I call different Catherine, I become the "Alpha Female" and afterwards I am buzzing asking "when is the next fight?"' 

Catherine's trainer Dermot McGrath said one of the challenges for women is ensuring they are the right weight before a match as he said 'it is harder for a women to make weight, it is easier for a man to drop weight.'

Shenda Hughes, 17, left, takes part in a fight which points are awarded for landing kicks and punches

Many fighters will end up bleeding after a fight if their opponent lands an elbow in their face 

A slight fluctuation in weight can mean a match is abandoned after months of training - something that can occur to a women if she is on her period and suffering from water retention.  

Catherine said she will sometimes take medication from her doctor to delay a period if it is going to fall before a big fight.

But otherwise when it is time of the month she just gets on with it.

She said: 'I am fighting every month with it and I am still in the cage training having guys kicking me in the stomach, you don't even notice it.'

Meanwhile, Ferial 'Felix' Ameeroedien, 33, from Dublin, told Vogue dedicating her life to becoming a champion Thai boxer means making sacrifices and enduring numerous injuries.

She has facial scaring from where she has been elbowed in the face by an opponent so hard the skin has broken.  

She said: 'My mum said "why don't you do dance?" The risks are getting cut by elbows, a knee to the head or shin splits.' 

But she said she does it because she 'just loves the sport' and gets up every day to train at 6am with her boyfriend Paul Norton who is also a fighter. 

Ferial said she has no plan to retire from the sport yet. 

Ring girls also show the rounds for the women's fights which Vogue thought was 'disrespectful'

Ferial 'Felix' Ameeroedien gets up at 6am every day to train with her boyfriend Paul, right

'I know I should settle down but I can't stop. I don't know what I would do if I wasn't fighting, when I don't have a fight I feel like I am in limbo,' she said.

'I do feel guilty sometimes as your relationships suffer but you don't have time. But when I don't have a fight I make time. It does affect your relationships.'

Ferial has maintained her relationship with Paul because they can spend their time training together and it is similar story for professional boxer Christina McMahon, who married her coach.

She told Vogue: 'I started training in my thirties when most people retire when I met the coach. I married the coach and he has been training me ever since.'

While male world champions can become millionaires when they win, Christina's husband said the biggest jackpot for a woman is around $50,000 (£34,000).

He admits women fighters 'aren't in it for the money' but for the joy of winning. 

Christina explained: 'For many times I have laid on the bedroom floor and thought "what is the benefit of this?" We found it in Africa.'

It was there she won her first WBC world title.

Ferial pictured in a fight, right, said training leaves little time for meeting up with friends

As there isn't enough money in the sport for most women to make fighting a full-time career, they combine it with their day job.

For cage fighter Amanda English, 35, from Dublin, that often means explaining to her colleagues why she has come to work covered in bruises.

She works as a forensic scientist and said: 'I did appear at work with a few bruises and people started questioning what I was doing. When I tried to explain they thought it was unbelievable "you wouldn't be involved in something like that".'

It is women like Amanda, Catherine and Ferial who are inspiring the next generation and Vogue met two young Irish girls Maya Kennedy, 14, and Shenda Hughes, 17, who have started training and having their first fights.

Vogue admitted it was hard to imagine the pretty, polite girls she met becoming aggressive and brutal in the ring.  

Iman Barlow, 22, has been fighting since she was four and said women can be feminine as well as fierce

Vogue with WBC champion Christina McMahon who said all the training was worth it to win a world title

'Why were women fighting when aggression is not hardwired into our hormones? The cute and funny women I met certainly didn't seem like they were were od-ing on testosterone,' she observed.

Professional Thai fighter Iman Barlow, 22, from Melton Mowbray, who is known as the 'pretty killer' said they can still be feminine as well as fighters.

She has been fighting since she was four-years-old (when she had to fight a boy) and said female fighters will often add feminine touches to their fighting appearance from painting their nails to wearing pink.

She said: 'People think women and fighters , we must be "grrr" but we still have a feminine touch about us, we are still girls.'

Vogue said she has gained a new understanding of why women fight but doesn't plan to take up the sport herself

By the end of the documentary, Vogue admits hasn't been converted to the sport but has a new respect for the women who do take it on.

'They are not angry she-devils pushing into a male arena even if it suits the fight promoters to portray them that way. 

'They are fit, feminine gorgeous women - even if the promoters also exploited that fact. They have the self discipline of nuns and the steel focus of Nobel scientists,' she said. 

Vogue on... is on TLC Wednesdays at 10pm