A MARTIAL artist has become only the second woman in Wales to earn the highest grade currently attainable in her discipline.

Marianne ‘Maz’ Jackson, 36, battled through two and half hours of gruelling testing at Towyn’s Fight Fortress to achieve a third dan black belt in the Israeli martial art, Krav Maga.

Simon Morrell, founder of Fight Fortress – whose daughter, Luka Jake, is Wales’ only other Krav Maga third dan black belt – said: “I’m so proud of Maz. It really is not easy to achieve the grade.

“When she first walked into the Fight Fortress nine years ago, she appeared really timid and was really quiet – I gave her three to four weeks!”

Krav Mag was developed for the Israeli army and special forces in the 1940s and features in the film, Taken, and the 2006 Casino Royale remake.

For the testing, Maz, from Towyn, had to display 35 combinations 10 times in random order from memory – a total of 350 – with a minimum of three techniques per combination, in both left and right stances.

She also had to complete five two-minute rounds of boxing and then a further five of close-quarters combat, display four knife and four gun defences and then compete in three, two-and-half-minute bouts of kickboxing. Her first bout was against Welsh Open winner Luka Jake, the second against Simon’s son, Billy, and the third a rematch with Luka.

Simon said: “What is really impressive – and shows just how hard it is to achieve the belt – is that when Maz fought Luka and Billy, they were completely fresh.

"She’s one of the hardest-working martial artists I’ve ever encountered. She is constantly training at home.

“She has a work ethic where she doesn’t ever really leave the 'Dojo' mentally and is constantly training, even at home.

“Having the two highest ranked women in Wales is great to promote Krav Maga – and bring more women to the mat.”