Passion is dedication that has caught fire and if left to burn long enough, it becomes unquenchable. Former Canadian Football League player Paul Cheng’s passion for mixed martial arts (MMA) burns longer and brighter with each passing day.
Tomorrow night at National Taiwan University Sports Center in Taipei, Cheng is to lead a group of Taiwanese MMA fighters looking to notch victories in the cage in front of a home crowd experiencing a ONE Fighting Championship (ONE FC) event live for the first time.
Nicknamed “the Typhoon,” Cheng is a natural athlete, having served as defensive lineman for the British Columbia Lions for several years. The transition from soccer to mixed martial arts was a smooth one. Since making his professional debut in 2011, Cheng has a 4-1-0 record, including two first-round wins by submission via punches and one by knockout.
Photo courtesy of ONE FC
The 1.9m, 114.8kg heavyweight is pitting his cage skills against the equally huge Mahmoud “Hellboy” Hassan (1-3-0) of Egypt in what is expected to be an epic clash of giants.
The other Taiwanese fighters competing tomorrow are bantamweight Sung Ming-yen, along with welterweights Zhang Zheng-jie and Jeff Huang.
Cheng debuted with a submission by punches victory over Alain Ngalani in December last year, while the other three are making their debuts tomorrow night.
Zhang, 29, previously served in Taiwan’s elite Marine Corps, making the transition to mixed martial arts without much turbulence.
Well-accustomed to the rigors of physical training and the risks of hand-to-hand combat, Zhang has two first-round submission wins under his belt.
Nicknamed “the Frogman” due to his military background, Zhang is no stranger to the various fight disciplines, having trained in sanda, Muay Thai, jiujitsu, wrestling and boxing.
Zhang is to take on Rayner Kinsiong (2-0-0) of Malaysia in a battle of young, up-and-coming fighters.
Taiwanese MMA pioneer Sung (2-1-0) is also to get his 15 minutes in the spotlight as he locks horns with Singapore’s Nick “Diaz” Lee (2-1-0).
Sung, a mainstay of the local fight scene, has been away from the cage for more than two years after being brutally stopped by Philippine fighter Agustin Delarmino in his last outing. However, the painful loss has not deterred him from his quest to become the nation’s most successful fighter.
Also making his ONE FC debut is investment-consultant-turned-mixed-martial-artist Huang (3-1-0).
Three years ago, Huang decided to leave a lucrative job with a US firm to train in Rio de Janeiro, exchanging his career in finance for one in professional fighting.
Huang is now coming home, having graduated from National Taiwan University, the venue of tomorrow’s event. His homecoming is against Bala Shetty of India, who is making his professional debut.
However, unlike his fellow Taiwanese stars, Huang had a somewhat difficult progression into MMA. The hardest part was convincing his friends and family that dropping his stable job and luxurious lifestyle to become a professional fighter was the right decision, after the move was met with mixed emotions by those closest to him.
Huang refrained from telling his parents what he planned to do, instead saying that he was starting a business in Brazil. Nevertheless, he followed his dream and now he plans to make a triumphant return to his hometown.
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