Yu Yau Pui is on a huge run in the world’s largest martial arts organization, but it almost did not come to fruition just a couple of years back. 

On Friday, August 2, the Hong Kong native will figure in an atomweight Muay Thai bout against Scottish star Amy Pirnie at ONE Fight Night 24: Brooks vs. Balart set inside the iconic Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. 

Yu Yau Pui reflects back at her health troubles

In an interview with ONE, the 31-year-old recalled a difficult time when she was left feeling helpless and frustrated.

“I hurt my lower back. You know, your lower back is the core muscle. If you hurt your hand, you can practice kicking. If you hurt your whole leg, you can practice other stuff. But if you hurt your lower back, you almost can’t move with your hands and your legs,” she said.

“It was very difficult for me. I was so motivated at the beginning, and I was so frustrated then because I saw other people at my gym who had so many opportunities. They had so many competitions, and they had the chance to improve their skills. But, ‘Oh, what am I doing? I’m just sitting there and watching people grow.’ I was so frustrated.”

Determined to overcome her frustrations, Yu nursed herself back to health in order to get back to training and catch up to what she had been missing.

Unfortunately, the global pandemic shut the world down for a while, which led to more time on the sidelines for her.

Still, she remained optimistic that things would soon turn around and thankfully, she would find a home in ONE. 

“During that COVID period, I just kept training, and I didn’t know what I was training for because there was no competition. I just kept hoping that there was a rainbow after the rain. I just kept hope that this is not useless and I kept training thinking this would be useful one day. I never felt that I could really fight in ONE Championship.”

What is Yau Pui’s stance at ONE Championship?

The KF 1 athlete made the most out of her opportunity, collecting win after win in the ONE Friday Fights series to earn herself a highly coveted six-figure contract to perform on the promotion’s marquee events. 

In her U.S. primetime debut at ONE Fight Night 20 last March, she showed another reason why she is the next big thing in the division with a valiant win against former World Title challenger Lara Fernandez.

Now, she faces another tough challenge in the decorated Scot, Pirnie. A win for Yu could put her in the World Title conversation, so expect her to pull out all the stops to get through her latest adversity as she has done all her life.