A ‘career-ending’ injury and a stomach bug before a fight couldn’t stop Sunshine Coast mixed martial arts competitor Erin Carter from bringing home a silver medal at the 2025 World Championships.
“Life is a fight,” says Erin, who began martial arts at the age of nine.
Since then, she has represented Australia six times across four different sports – karate, kickboxing, Muay Thai and mixed martial arts – and claimed an impressive list of titles, including the 2017 World Muaythai Organization Kickboxing World Championship, International Sport Karate Association World Cup, and 2019 International Thai World Games Championship, along with silver medals at the 2021 and 2025 International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) World Championships. But the 23-year-old’s path to success has been anything but easy.
In March 2022, Erin suffered a devastating knee injury during training, rupturing her anterior cruciate ligament, medial collateral ligament and lateral collateral ligament. An initial surgery left her unable to straighten her leg or walk properly for more than a year.
Over the next three years, Erin underwent four surgeries and countless hours of rehabilitation with physiotherapist Jordan Craig at Back to Bounce Physiotherapy. Even when she couldn’t compete, she stayed in the gym, lifting weights and training however she could.
After years of setbacks and frustration, Erin made her long-awaited return to the cage in March 2025 at Beatdown Promotions at Eatons Hill Hotel in Brisbane.
“I fractured my nose in training in the lead-up to the fight, but I had overcome so much already that I wasn’t going to let that stop me,” she says.
Erin went on to claim a decision victory over a tough opponent.
“The three years absent from competition and training were extremely challenging and there were a lot of days filled with tears and frustration,” she says.
“But overcoming it all and getting a win in my comeback fight is truly my proudest accomplishment to date. I told myself every day during my setbacks and surgeries: ‘Against all odds, still I rise’.”
Her resilience was tested again at the 2025 IMMAF World Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia, when she came down with a stomach bug just before competing.
“I had to really push hard mentally through the two fights I had, as I was feeling so flat,” she says.
“I won my first fight against Ukraine by TKO in the first round, which was an amazing feeling. My second fight in the finals was against Finland. Although it was really close and could have gone either way, I didn’t get the judges’ decision. Although I was gutted not to bring home the gold, I’m proud of myself, considering how sick I was and that this was my first year back competing since my knee surgeries.”
Erin credits much of her comeback to her coach Ryan Dunstan and the team at Ignite Martial Arts in Caloundra.
“Ryan has never stopped believing in me throughout every setback I’ve had – even in my lowest points during rehab and losses when I struggled to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” she says.
Now, Erin has her sights set on turning professional in 2026: “I’m keen to get that ball rolling and make my way to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to become the UFC World Bantamweight Champion.”
