Taiwanese mixed martial arts (MMA) pioneer Sung Ming-yen is set for his second ONE FC fight in three months when he takes on Singapore’s Radeem Rahman in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, tomorrow night.
Sung (3-1-0) made an emphatic ONE FC debut in Taipei in July, when he submitted Singapore’s Nick Lee by guillotine choke only 1 minute, 10 seconds into the first round.
Prior to that fight, Sung had been absent from the cage for two-and-a-half years after suffering a questionable technical knockout loss to Agustin Delarmino in the now-defunct Hong Kong-based MMA organization Legend FC.
Photo courtesy of ONE FC
“I admit that I got careless in that bout [against Delarmino] and that led to my eventual downfall. I do think it was stopped a little early, though,” he told the Taipei Times. “I would have appreciated the chance to try to recover. If I did, I think the result would have been different.”
However, the 34-year-old Hsinchu native said that during his lengthy layoff he was only biding his time for the chance to showcase his skills again.
“I was happy to continue improving my skills and wait for the right opportunity to come around,” he said. “I knew ONE FC was going to call, so I stayed patient and was rewarded with the honor of fighting in Asia’s biggest MMA organization in Taipei.”
“I’ve worked so hard in the meantime after the loss, and I was so honored and excited to compete in Taiwan. I am glad I got the win and a bit relieved as well that I did not let my countrymen down,” he said. “Competing in ONE FC is a test of my and Taiwan’s ability, and I’m glad I passed the test, but want to do even better next time.”
Sung plans to again don a dress shirt and tie when he makes his entrance to the cage.
“It has two meanings. The first is that in Taiwan a lot of people work too hard and get depressed with their jobs. I want to show that when the time comes, you can loosen that tie, take off the shirt and do whatever you want. The second part is that I want to show that as mixed martial artists, we are all gentlemen,” he said.
In Rahman, 27, Sung faces a young, undefeated Muay Thai-based fighter whose two wins came by knockouts and who fights out of Singapore’s Evolve MMA, widely regarded as Asia’s leading MMA camp.
“Radeem is a very good and worthy opponent,” Sung said. “He comes from Evolve MMA, which has a list of world champions to train with, so I’m sure he will be well-prepared.”
“My strategy, to channel Bruce Lee, is to be like water. To go with the flow and use the movements to guide you. I always train for the long term and not for a specific fight, so training has been great as usual,” he said.
Sung began applying Bruce Lee’s philosophy of incorporating whatever elements and techniques a fighter finds useful from a variety of martial arts early on, studying disciplines ranging from taekwondo, judo, sanda and Muay Thai to Brazilian jiujitsu, wrestling and even the Chinese internal martial art baguazhang.
MMA allowed him to put all of these skills to use, and he began training fighters in it seven years ago and organizing amateur MMA tournaments. His chain of Martial Armour gyms (www.wu-ja.com), previously known as Tough MMA, is training a new generation of Taiwanese fighters, for whom Sung sees a bright future.
“The new breed of Taiwanese mixed martial artists will be a force to be reckoned with. There is such a huge pool of fighters now, and iron sharpens iron,” he said. “Since ONE FC came to Taiwan, the sport is really blowing up and I cannot show my appreciation for them enough. I am personally very optimistic about the future development of this sport in Taiwan. Everything I have seen so far shows that the progress has been amazing.”
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