ONE Championship: Hong Kong Muay Thai fighter Yu Yau-pui loves what she becomes in her bouts
- After 5 wins from 5 last year, the 31-year-old takes on Scotland’s Amy Pirnie at ONE Fight Night 24 next month in her first bout since March
For Hong Kong fighter Yu Yau-pui, fighting is not about the adulation or the financial rewards but the ability to be transformed into a person she loves.
It is not an easy profession, she acknowledges, with the risk of injury very real and fighters always getting some damage when they step into the ring.
Yu would not have it any other way, though, and in an exclusive interview with the Post, she said: “I just enjoy being myself; there are so many ups and downs but I often remind myself that Muay Thai is what I love to do and I love the person I [become] when I’m performing the sport.”
The full-time Muay Thai fighter, who is signed to ONE Championship, has a big fight next month when she takes on Amy Pirnie at ONE Fight Night 24.
The fight at Bangkok’s Lumpinee stadium will be Yu’s first since March – which is quite a change from last year, when she fought five times, winning all five.
Yu signed a multi-fight contract to compete on the ONE Championship events that are broadcast live in North America by Amazon Prime. It means she is probably earning significantly more than she was in 2023, though the 31-year-old did not go into specifics.
