IT SEEMS like a hopeless situation for any woman to be in.

Events manager Ashley Chong, a petite 27-year-old, is on her back on the floor. Looming over her is a strapping man, looking ready to do her violence.

He descends upon her, but in a blur of kicks and twists, she fells him – hard – to the mat, and straddles him, ready to deliver a knockout blow.

Like Miss Chong, more women here are holding their own – and coming out tops – against their male counterparts in several martial arts that are newer here, including mixed martial arts, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and muay thai.

Three martial-arts schools here reported up to a 200 per cent increase in female enthusiasts in the last few years.

Today, women make up around half the class, a far cry from five years ago, when it was common to find lone females outnumbered by men.

A typical workout session sees women going at it with the men, kicking, punching, grappling with and wrestling each other into submission.

This reflects a global trend of more women worldwide taking up martial arts, evidenced by professional female fighters entering the rings.

For example, mixed martial arts is now one of the world’s fastest growing sports, despite being previously branded as “human cockfighting” by United States Senator John McCain and heavily criticised for its no-holds-barred brawls.

Professional mixed-martial arts fights in the Ultimate Fighting Championship in the US are followed by scores of fans worldwide, and make wrestling fights in the World Wrestling Entertainment look tame in comparison.

Come May next year, Singapore will host a series of mixed-martial arts fights between top fighters from around the world, organised by ESPN Star Sports and Resorts World Sentosa.

In Singapore, the women fighters are not looking to rough up their opponents.

Keeping in shape while learning handy self-defence skills are their main aims, said trainers and women my paper spoke to.

Miss Chong said: “Though Singapore is quite safe, this martial arts) helps equip me with defence skills, which may come in handy when I travel.”

And women are spoilt for choice at martial-arts schools here.

They get to pick from martial arts such as the dance-like Brazilian capoeira, the Thai kick-boxing martial art of muay thai, and the Israeli martial art kapap, that lets you disarm assailants.

Many academies also offer packages that let customers try their hand at the different martial arts.

For example, at Fight G, customers can pick from muay thai, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and other martial arts for an unlimited number of classes at $110 a month.

At Evolve Mixed Martial Arts, prices start from $249 for membership and unlimited classes a month.

Watching over a class there, where Miss Chong trains with three other men, head instructor Rafael Lima, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu former world champion, said: “Ashley would give everyone here trouble. She can ‘finish’ them, put a lock on them and make them give up.”

Grappling with men during her mixed-martial arts class is what Miss Chong terms a “liberating experience”.

She said: “Secretly, I enjoy it and take pride whenever I manage to subdue them.”

The usual bruised shins and twisted ankles aside, injuries are few and far between, say women martial-arts enthusiasts.

For production manager Jean Tan, 30, calorie-burning comes in the form of her bi-weekly 11/2-hour muay thai sessions.

Miss Tan said: “It’s really intense,especially when we do pad work – 100 roundhouse kicks on each side in five minutes. We usually finish faster than the guys. It’s an ego thing – we don’t want them to think we’re soft.”

Her boyfriend is supportive of her picking up martial-arts skills – as long as she does not try them on him, she quipped.

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