- One champions Aung La and Martin Nguyen cornering their Sanford MMA teammate at Mark of Greatness in Kuala Lumpur
- Myanmar’s unlikely MMA star comes full circle, having once picked up trash from the streets in Malaysia as a refugee
When he steps into the One Championship ring to fight Kim Woun-kyoum at Mark of Greatness on Friday night in Kuala Lumpur, Myanmar's Tial Thang knows he will have come full circle.
Thang is fighting out of Florida's Sanford MMA " formerly Hard Knocks 365 " where he trains in the illustrious company of One world champions Aung La N Sang and Martin Nguyen.
The two men " "my brothers", as he calls them " have accompanied him to Malaysia and will corner him for his fight against One Warrior Series winner Kim. It caps a remarkable rise from humble beginnings
"I used to live in KL as a refugee boy collecting cans and living a struggling life, but this time I come with a different mission now. I come to compete," he told the Post.
Thang says Malaysia is his "second home" " his first, at the moment, is "The Burmese Python" Aung La's house in Florida.
"Right now, for training camp he lives with me," Aung La told the Post. "It's really nice, our culture and our mindset is pretty similar so it's easy."
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They haven't always been so well acquainted. Thang's journey in MMA began in Syracuse, New York, where we was working in construction trying to support his wife and child.
But with a lack of high-level gyms, desperate times call for desperate measures " he tried to reach out to Aung La, who was training at Crazy 88 Mixed Martial Arts in Baltimore.
"I was looking for somebody that would guide me in the right direction," Thang says. "I tried to contact Aung La for years, but it never worked out, he never called me back.
"Some days I was just depressed. I was just living that life, drinking and working and then being a father. I was not happy. I was looking for a purpose.
"One day I just randomly picked up the phone and called Crazy 88, at the time Aung La was there training. I talked to one of the ladies at the front desk, said can I talk to Aung La. He said if you're really serious about it, come over and let's talk."
Thang went straight to Maryland to train with Aung La.
"I don't think he saw so much potential, to be honest," Thang says, smiling. "I don't think he believed I was crazy enough, with a kid and my wife pregnant, to actually move to Maryland and follow my dream.
"As soon as I talked to him I went back to Syracuse and told my boss I'm quitting my job. I gave him my two weeks' notice. I couldn't even wait two weeks, I said if you could let me go now that would make me very happy."
After training with Aung La in Baltimore for two years, things didn't work out with the gym. Aung La moved to Hard Knocks in Florida.
"After that, I was stuck " 'What do I do now? Where am I going?' I was very depressed," Thang says. "But because of the passion I have for MMA, it's my dream to be a world champion, I told myself I've been through the worst already, so why give up now.
"Aung La offered me to move in with him. At that time I was amateur. Sanford accepted me as a team because of Aung La. He told them my story, how crazy I was. I showed up there, I was 195 pounds and depressed because Aung La had moved to Florida. I'm so blessed they accepted me when I was a little fat boy."
Thang is now training under the world class guidance of Henri Hooft, Greg Jones and Kami Barzini, alongside MMA royalty like UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, former UFC champions Luke Rockhold and Vitor Belfort, former Bellator champion Michael Chandler and many others.
"This is my fourth fight with them, almost two years now. I'm so blessed to be in that team. We're not just a team, we're a family," Thang says. "Everybody in that team is willing to help each other. Every time when I ask for help they show up. Not one person refuses. Whenever you call they're there.
"It's hard to get that type of opportunity in MMA. I'm so young in this game, there's so many things to learn. To be in that high-level gym, as a high-level athlete, I'm so thankful my coaches accept me to the team."
Now comes the big moment at the Axiata Arena " the next step in his plan to become a world champion.
"It is such an honour for me to have Aung La and Martin in my corner," Thang says. "Sometimes you only see hero stuff in a movie, you never see that in reality. They're in my corner now, the people I look up to most.
"They're helping me in daily life, not just in fight camp. But their personality, the way they treat people, there's so many things I learn from them."
"What can you ask more? Everything is on me now," he adds. "I have everybody with me, my two brothers Martin and Aung La. It's for me to go in and do the business, that's it."
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