It’s been more than a year and a half since we’ve seen Shannon “OneShin” Wiratchai inside the ONE Championship Circle. “People have been asking me, ‘Where have you been? Have you stopped fighting already?’” Shannon said after the Post tracked him down in Phuket, Thailand. It turns out the 33-year-old featherweight has simply been biding his time during the coronavirus pandemic, which hit his home country particularly hard when it came to restrictions. But Wiratchai has not been sitting idly by. He has joined up with his long-time coaches after they split from Tiger Muay Thai to form the new Bangtao Muay Thai & MMA gym, which will host a grand opening this weekend with seminars from UFC featherweight champ Alex Volkanovski and ONE featherweight kick-boxing king Superbon. “All my coaches – George Hickman, Frank Hickman, Alex Schild – everybody has come here,” he said. “Some good, high-level coaches – [BJJ black belt] Josh Hinger has come here to teach his technique, so I feel like this is the best place to be. “We have good fighters from all over the world coming to train. We have some top Thai fighters like Topnoi, some great athletes.” ONE’s Johnson fuels speculation with mysterious Cejudo meeting Wiratchai (10-6, 1 no contest) has not fought since snapping a four-fight skid with a split decision victory over Fabio Pinca in Bangkok in August 2020. “Since the virus restrictions started,” he said. “I was fully vaccinated by the end of 2021, so it’s not too late to get back into the ONE Championship Circle. “The last contact I got from ONE was before last November, [and] I said let’s wait until the end of this year – so now I’m ready. I’m at Bangtao staying ready, staying sharp and waiting for the call.” Who does he want to fight, when he does make his long-awaited return? “Anyone, anyone,” Wiratchai said, smiling. “We’re here training with one of the best crews in the world, the best coaches in the world. I’ll just be ready and do the best I can, it should be fine. “Everybody wants to get to the [top-five] rankings and be the champion – I just want to get back to the winning column and slowly climb back to the top again. It’s been a while. I don’t know if I’ll have ring rust or not. But I feel eager, like I want to get back to fighting. I’ve been preparing for so long, so I want to see the results of my training. “One of the most important things about fighting is to apply how you train in the gym into the cage. I want to see myself not be just the old Shannon Wiratchai, but be the one aiming high, ready to take off.” Featherweight is arguably the most exciting MMA division in Asian martial arts promotion ONE right now, with champion Thanh Le set for a showdown with Chinese striker Tang Kai, after seeing off former champ Martin Nguyen and BJJ ace Garry Tonon. “They’re all on fire. I want to be there,” Wiratchai said. “At one point, we have to share the cage and have fun, but you have to say they’ve been working hard, they’ve earned their place to be there. Now it’s my time, I want to earn my place to be there. “Tang Kai is gonna be the real deal for Thanh Le,” he added. “Thanh Le is so good but I want to shout out my friend Martin Nguyen – he’s the one that kind of exposed Thanh Le a bit, even though he lost. “We all know Garry is the best in the division on the ground, but when it comes to striking he might not be able to reach that level to give Thanh Le a hard time. “Tang Kai is a great striker. We all know he’s the real deal. If that happens, it’s gonna be something we want to see. It’s not gonna be an easy time for Thanh Le.” With victories over notable names at lightweight such as Amir Khan and Rahul Raju, “OneShin” is nicely poised to slot back into the mix at featherweight, which he feels suits his body more. “ONE Championship, please send me a message,” Wiratchai said. “It’s time to go, let’s do it.”