Taiwan’s Sung Ming Yen prepared to showcase his skills at ONE WUJIE : Dynasty of Champions this Saturday
It’s been over a year since we’ve seen Taiwanese sensation Sung Ming Yen grace the ONE Championship cage.
However, on 23 January 2016, we will get to see just that, as Yen takes on Indonesias Sunoto at ONE Championship: Dynasty of Champions from Changsha, Hunan, China.
Yen (4-1) earned a pair of 2014 victories over Radeem Rahman and Nicholas Lee, but spent all of the following year away from action. His win over Lee was via guillotine choke, the second submission win of his career.
While many fighters over the years have been known for extravagant entrances and wardrobes, Yen prefers to take a “business-first” approach to it all.
“I have the honor to fight in the biggest MMA organization in my hometown,” Yen said. “I would like to transmit two messages to fans.
"First, MMA is ‘smart’ martial arts and a gentle sport. The fighters are not barbarians. That is why I decided to walk in with a suit. Second, do not let the reality tie you down. Do not let people tell you that you cannot do it. It is time to change yourself, so I take off my suit and jump in the cage to fight for myself.”
The 35-year-old, who trains out of Tough MMA, did not compete in a fight for two-plus years prior to making his ONE Championship debut. However, that does not mean he was not continuing to sharpen his skills in taekwondo, karate, sanda, judo, wrestling, Muay Thai and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
“I started doing MMA in 2010,” Yen said. “I personally like to test my skills in any kind of martial arts. I started practicing taekwondo at 17 years old before I started to challenge myself in karate - just like the kung fu movies.
"Of course I got my ass kicked. So I changed to doing karate. After a year, I took up a challenge in judo without any takedown skills. Yes, I got my ass kicked again. Then my thoughts on martial arts started to evolve. I realized there is no best martial arts. It only depends on how hard and smart you train.”
Just because Yen has not been competing actively, he has stayed very close to MMA as an announcer for the Chinese livestream of ONE Championship events.
“I would like to thank Victor Cui, he gave me the opportunity to work with the most professional team in MMA,” Yen said. “There are over 75 countries and 1 billion people watching. I am really honored that I can be the Chinese commentator for ONE Championship. I will do my best to let the fans fall in love with this sport and ONE Championship.”
As for his opponent, Sunoto, Yen is hoping he can show fans his kung fu skills this time around.
“I think my opponent is a high-level fighter in MMA,” he said. “He can strike, take down and fight on the ground, so he is a very good test for me.
"I hope I can show people kung fu in MMA, so I am training kung fu and hopefully it can be used this time.”
The opportunity to prove to the world that kung fu from China can be useful inside the cage is what drives Yen.
“It has been a dream since I was a teenager,” he said. “The kung fu that people are knowing now is not the true face of Chinese kung fu. I hope I can show MMA fans what is the real kung fu.
"If I can make it, I hope I can share Chinese kung fu (with others) on how to train and transition to real traditional Chinese kung fu, and not just what is used for acting and movies.”
