Courtney Kern

BOYERS — After six months of looking for a fight, Courtney Kern found one.

The 1996 Butler graduate and Boyers resident will take on Maggie O’Neill in a three-round mixed martial arts match Saturday night in Altoona.

Kern, 35, is one of only four registered female MMA fighters in Pennsylvania. Saturday will mark her first career MMA bout.

“I’ve been training for about two years now,” Kern said. “It’s tough to find an opponent because you have to be of similar size and skill level or the state athletic commission won’t approve it.”

O’Neill is only 21, but the age difference doesn’t bother Kern.

“I train with all guys and none of them are older than 25,” she said.

Kern trains four or five nights a week, three to five hours at a time. She is also the mother of four, her kids ranging in age from 5 to 15.

Besides that, Kern is employed full-time in the data entry field and teaches youth martial arts classes twice a week at Evolution Enterprises LLC in Butler.

Though she’s never had a boxing match, Kern has done boxing training. She’s also competed in two kickboxing matches, losing a decision at the International Kickboxing Championships in Orlando, Fla., a year ago and participating in an exhibition bout at the Butler Cubs Hall.

“I still do some kickboxing,” Kern said. “I like the cross training and broadening my range of expertise. I love the martial arts in general.”

“Courtney is an extremely focused, dedicated and driven competitor,” said Colleen Berg, owner of Evolution Enterprises. “She firmly believes in what she does.

“As busy as she is, she never misses a class.”

After taking ROTC in high school, Kern joined the Army and was a member of the military police for seven years.

“I started taking martial arts years ago to learn self-defense,” she said. “From there, it developed into kick-boxing, boxing, ju jitsui, all kinds of disciplines.

“It’s not just training. It’s a lifestyle. It’s how I diet, how I exercise, how I run my life.”

Kern teaches children ages 3-8. Her own kids have taken the course.

“They’ve been exposed to it. It’s up to them whether they want to stay with it,” Kern said.

She certainly plans on doing so.

“I’ll do it until they tell me I’m done,” Kern said. “My heart will tell me when I’m finished. But I don’t think that will be for a while.”