One: Reign of Kings – meet the Chinese fighter, who rose from sleeping on the floor of the gym to the pinnacle of Asian MMA

Han Zihao will join the main card in Manila this weekend, but it’s been a long road for the Chinese fighter

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At 23, Han Zihao is about to make his debut in the One Championship’s Super Series.Photos: Handout

Published: 3:11pm, 27 Jul 2018Updated: 3:23pm, 27 Jul 2018

Friday night at Manila’s Mall of Asia Arena will be about as far from Han Zihao’s humble beginnings in Muay Thai as a man can possibly get. But the Chinese fighter will never forget the hunger.

“I moved to Bangkok when I was 14 years old on a one-way ticket and with no money,” explained Han. “There were four of us living at the gym and some days we didn’t have the 30 baht we needed between us for one plate of Pad Thai.”

So they would share a bowl of plain rice. Then Han would make his bed up on the floor of the gym and then he would dream of fighting in front of a packed arena, fans screaming his name. And, of course, he would dream of having the money needed to never go hungry again.

Han Zihao moved to Thailand at 14 to realise his dream of becoming an MMA fighter.

Now, at 23, that day has finally come as Han sets himself for a debut in the One Championship’s Super Series.

Asia’s leading martial arts organisation is giving international fighters from the likes of Muay Thai and kick boxing a chance to share the spotlight – and the biggest stage the region has – with the mixed martial arts stars who mostly capture all the headlines, and mass market attention.

Hence on Friday night we have the Henan-born Han (57-14), among the first Chinese fighters to have ever set himself up full-time on Thailand’s ultra-competitive professional Muay Thai circuits, in a bantamweight clash against Panicos Yusuf (37-5), unique in his own way as he hails from the city of Limassol on the Eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus.