ONE Championship: Hong Kong Muay Thai fighter Yu Yau Pui earns US$100,000 contract with TKO
- Muay Thai atomweight will become her city’s first local fighter in the Asian martial arts promotion after second-round body shot finish in Bangkok
- ‘Hong Kong is not very supportive of sport. This can really encourage other youngsters in Hong Kong to chase their dreams and not give up,’ Yu says
Hong Kong Muay Thai fighter Yu Yau Pui earned herself a US$100,000 main roster ONE Championship contract with her fifth straight ONE Friday Fights victory in Bangkok.
The 30-year-old atomweight stopped WBC flyweight champion Zehra Dogan with a body-shot TKO in the second round at Lumpinee Stadium.
Yu, who trains out of the KF1 gym in Fo Tan, will become just the second fighter from Hong Kong to compete in Asian martial arts promotion ONE, and the first local fighter, after Cameroon-born MMA heavyweight Alain “The Panther” Ngalani – who sent his congratulations on Instagram, saying “Bravo, Hong Kong!”.
During a post-fight interview with commentator Mitch Chilson, Yu was first told she had earned another US$10,000 performance bonus from ONE chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong.
“Thank you so much Mr Chatri, because this really helps a lot for me to continue my fight dream,” Yu said. “It’s very difficult to maintain your reality and your dream.
“But with this opportunity I can really try to make something realistic, because you tell me that what I have been doing is worth it.”
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Yu was then told she had earned her multi-fight ONE contract, and she broke down in tears and fell to the canvas in the ring.
She said she wanted to inspire the youth in Hong Kong, to be a role model to aspiring fighters that she never had.
“I think being a fighter in Hong Kong [is tough] because Hong Kong is not very supportive of sport,” Yu said.
“But this time I really feel happy I can be the first local person in ONE Championship. It can really encourage other youngsters in Hong Kong to chase their dreams not to give up.
“I want to thank all the Thai fans, my gym, my training partners, my family and my friends and my students in my gym. All you guys supported me unconditionally and you believed in what I can do before the first day I came here.
“Mitch and all of you at ONE Championship, you have been so nice to me and make it feel like home.
“I’m so happy to be here and I’m looking forward to my future because I know this is just the beginning.”
Turkey’s Dogan had some early success in the clinch, but the Hongkonger began to take over with knees and elbows late in the first round.
“The Octopus” then unloaded a barrage of strikes, and a final flurry of straights to the body and hooks to the head stopped Dogan at 1:28 of the second frame, with the “Devil Girl” turning away and turtling in the corner.
The impressive stoppage extended Yu’s record to 27-2-3, and it was enough to impress Chatri to make her the eighth fighter to get the call up to the big show.
“I’m so happy right now because this time I really wanted a knockout,” Yu added. “I really wanted to make a statement. I really, really wanted to enter ONE Championship. So I think this time I really proved myself.”
Yu made her ONE Friday Fights debut in February, and has three finishes as well as two unanimous decision wins.
