Gentiane Lupi is about to complete a rare combat sports trifecta.
On November 15, she defended her WMC welterweight kickboxing title with a decision win over Natalia Teller before going on to her maiden MMA (mixed martial arts) bout against Alex Sorthis two weeks ago, which resulted in a first-round TKO victory at a Princesses of Pain show.
She will take on her third and final challenge of this audacious stretch when she meets Daniella Smith for the vacant New Zealand Professional Boxing Association's light welterweight title in Auckland tomorrow night.
Taking three fights in four weeks, two of them for national titles, is unheard of on these shores.
"I like that you just have to maintain a high level of fitness," Lupi said. "That you have goals and that the pressure is constant and that the challenges are frequent. I liken it to metal being tempered.
"I like that people are offended that I fight so often; they say it's disrespectful. I say I show respect by training constantly and backing my ability. I like that I set my own goals and make up my own template. We should celebrate the difference in each other, not try to make everyone follow a norm."
There's certainly little normal about Lower Hutt's Lupi. In between training for all these different disciplines, the 39-year-old is also a full-time actor and mother of three children aged 10, 8 and 6.
Lupi took up running a couple of years ago to relieve the stress of looking after her children but decided that wasn't enough and after being recommended to hit some pads at a gym, she had found her new calling.
She had her first amateur kickboxing fight in 2012 and has since built a 14-1 record.
She has also had a handful of boxing bouts, including a majority-decision win over Smith in June.
Balancing home life, work and her training is a full-on existence but Lupi, whose movie credits include Kiwi films Second Hand Wedding and Eagle vs Shark, said it was worth the struggle.
"Why do I keep doing it? Because life is too grey and you need a bit more colour," she said. "You can sit round home living a sedentary life and you just don't really feel alive, so I want to feel alive."
Her children understand what mum is up to when she gets into the ring and enjoy being part of the show.
Lupi's husband Paul Everitt, a digital editor for Weta, supports her effort to make it in the fight game.
Next year, Lupi wants to expand her horizons and fight abroad in her preferred discipline of kickboxing, as she has exhausted nearly all her options in New Zealand where she holds multiple titles.
She can fight in six kickboxing weight classes in kickboxing from bantamweight (55.45kg) to welterweight (66.82kg), which should give her a range of opponents.
"Next year, all I want to do is concentrate on getting international gigs," she said. "I've got a list of names I'm going to hunt down and call out."