Melissa Grant

Melissa Jane Grant (born April 28, 1985) is an Australian kickboxer, fitness model and former singer.
Early life
She was born in Wagga Wagga, Australia, to parents Roslyn (Thompson) and Colin Grant. Her father played representative touch football from 1990-2012. In 2010 and 2011 his team won National. Her mother, Roslyn, won the State Title in High Jump when she was just 16-years-old. Melissa has stated that she has a "small percentage" of Aboriginal ancestry (she is a descendant of Maria Lock (1805-1878), daughter of Yarramundi, 'Chief of the Richmond Tribes'. Maria became the first Aboriginal woman to legally wed a European man when she married Robert Locke on 26 January 1824).
Melissa's other roots include English, Irish, German and Portuguese. The youngest of three, Melissa has a sister, Nicole, who is 5 years older and a brother, Daniel, who is 3 years older. Melissa was classically trained in singing from the age of 10 to 15 years and won a bevy of singing competitions during that time. When she was 15-years-old she started studying at the Newcastle Conservatorium of Music for three years and was selected into Australia's Talent Development Project (TDP). She graduated from Jesmond High School in Newcastle, Australia, where she excelled in Music. She sang in a band professionally from 18 to 23-years-old and quit to concentrate on her passion for Kickboxing.
She began training in Kickboxing at age 19 primarily for self-defense. This was something she wanted to do for several years. When she was 11-years old she was in park where four girls started fighting her. At the time, Melissa didn't know what to do so she didn't fight back. Her friends watched as she was beaten. She knew then that she had to learn to defend herself.
Melissa moved to Sydney, Australia when she was 20-years-old and joined a fighters gym for 3 years before having her first fight at 23. She subsequently won her first four fights by unanimous decision. She also won "Fight Of The Night" which was her first kickboxing competition. After a 4-year break she returned in 2014 and started training at the Pitbull Kickboxing & Muay Thai. She also joined Vision Personal Training gym because she was told she was overweight and had high cholesterol. Melissa entered a 9 Week Weight Loss Challenge and lost 26 per cent of her body weight during the 9 week challenge and becameVision Personal Training's 2014 National Weight Loss Winner. Melissa lost 18.7 kilograms in nine weeks.

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