It's not what you would expect from a Cambridge graduate with a four-year-old son - but then it's not every day you meet Britain's top female cage-fighting champion.

The sport has been in the headlines ever since glamour girl Jordan started dating grappler Alex Reid.

But its macho image took a blow last week when it emerged Alex, 34, is a cross-dresser who loves wearing women's clothes and make-up.

Like Alex, Rosi is a champ full of surprises - but for the right reasons. The 32-year-old has a degree in maths, a PhD in theoretical science, is training to be an osteopath and dotes on little Luis.

And the classically-trained pianist doesn't see any problem with how she earns a living - in the ring.

"There can be a lot of prejudice from lack of information about the sport, " she says. "But to be honest I don't experience many problems.

"People have a certain negative image of fighting and they base their opinions on that.

"But generally speaking, when I tell them what I do, people are interested to hear more. And when they look at me, I'm not something they'd expect.

"I find people asking lots of questions when they meet me, they want to know what does it involve and why I do it. They usually come away understanding a bit more."

Unsurprisingly, men can be shocked when they discover Rosi's choice of career. But the feisty lass, from Burnage, Manchester, brushes this aside - and it certainly hasn't fazed her current boyfriend.

"I think some men I've met do find it a bit intimidating, " she says.

"On the other hand, I tend to go for guys who are sporty or athletic and often they'll appreciate a woman with similar interests."

Rosi has managed to avoid any serious injuries in her seven-year career but admits there has been a bit of rough and tumble.

"I've been very fortunate when it comes to injuries, " she says. "I've had the usual bumps, bruises, sprains and strains but I think my worst injury so far has been a fractured bone in my hand and that was years ago."

She's certainly been luckier than some of her opponents - her 2007 bout with the impressively-named Windy Tomomi left the Japanese girl's ankle broken and wrenched the wrong way.

Many mums find it hard to balance work and family and Rosi is no different. "I always feel I'm lurching from one crisis to another, but I don't see it as diametrically opposite, " she says. "It's just the different elements of my life."

And she is obviously as happy playing with Luis as she is battering an opponent - and allows him to watch her train. "Luis is great fun, " she says.

"He has a lot of energy and is always running, jumping, playing.

"He's just started judo once a week and sometimes plays in the gym. "It's a healthy environment, " adds the Cage Warriors Women's Champion, who has racked up an impressive nine-win, one-loss record.

"A bit of rough and tumble is very important for kids growing up - kids don't seem to get that opportunity any more.

It's what kids naturally want to do, and it's a big part of learning boundaries, like it's not OK to hit your mate when you're cross with him!"

And it can be tough. "It's a demanding lifestyle, definitely, " she says. "When I have a fight coming up I'm training hard a couple of times a day, five or six days a week. Sometimes I'll be exhausted from training and I get home and Luis wants to wrestle me! But I love it."

Brainy Rosi got into the sport after completing her PhD at Cambridge. "I got to the end of my studies and thought: 'Where am I going to go with this?' I didn't want to sit in front of a desk for the rest of my life.

"I had come from a martial arts background, having studied tae kwan do since I was 13. I wanted to see how I would respond in a real fight and see if I could deal with that."

And she was spurred on after seeing a TV documentary about the sport. "It had come over from America and was really underground, a new thing, " she says.

"Those were the days when you never knew what you would be getting into at events but I still thought that's something I wanted to do. No women were doing it then.

"So I found a club, and I trained, but I wasn't going to go pro. I planned to just do it a few times to see if I could succeed and go back and get on with my life. But somewhere I got hooked on it."

And what does she think about Alex Reid?

She laughs: "Every sport needs characters. If it raises people's awareness of the sport that's a good thing - hopefully they'll take a closer look.

"I don't follow celeb side of things myself, but if it gets people to take an interest, it can't hurt. It livens things up!"