Fighting is a sport that requires brains and brawn with the ability to make split second decisions that determine whether you are left on the ground, staring at the ceiling or standing victorious.

Thus my classmates train, waking up before school to go running, throwing kicks until exhaustion shows on their faces, then kick another round on the pads. All this for their favourite weekend pasttime: meeting an opponent in the ring, taking hit after hit as simply a fun weekend affair. If you lose, get up, smile, and keep on going.

This photo set, a work in progress as I follow classmates through their matches, documents the tremendous amount of punishment they dish out and receive inside the ring.