“Anything can happen, but I’m going for gold,” she says.

The Warrnambool-based fighter will represent Australia at the IMMAF World Championships in Bahrain next month, an impressive accomplishment giving she has been in the sport just on a year.

Her first taste of the international stage was at the Asian Open in Singapore in June, where she received a bronze medal after being defeated in the semi-final by Sweden’s Anya Saxmark.

Smith had been in control of that match when the fight was standing up, but was defeated on the mat.

“I’m hoping to do a lot better than Singapore,” she said.

“I did The Gathering, which was (an) Australasian (tournament). It was really helpful because I needed work on my ground game, which I got to do.”

Smith, the sole female representative on the Australian team, will compete in the flyweight division, which has drawn 12 competitors from across the world.

She said the lessons learned at the Asian Open had her better prepared heading into the World Championships, even though she would be going in blind about many of her opponents.

She has worked on her mat fighting, but is will try to play to her strengths as much as possible.

“I’ll take it as it comes,” she said. “(But) obviously I’ll try to keep it standing most times, because that’s my strong point.

“Because there’s so many girls, it’s hard to go in with a plan for each.”

The tournament, which runs from November 13-19, will be a huge step forward for Smith, who was a Muay Thai fighter until taking up MMA a year ago.

She has upped her training in the lead-up to the event, and has been fitting in weekly visits to Melbourne-based gym Dominance in addition to her training with Warrnambool’s Spartan MMA gym.

“I’m up there once a week at the moment, but they also sometimes come down here,” she said. “I’ve been training a bit harder, seeing as it’s only three weeks away.”

Smith earned her spot on the Australian team after winning a gold medal at the Arnold Classic in Melbourne in March.