MYANMAR sports icon and ONE Championship star Aung La N Sang won the World MMA International Fighter of the Year award on Wednesday night in Las Vegas, United States. The awards are presented by Fighters Only Magazine.
Aung La surpassed several international mixed martial fighters to get the title, including UFC champions Khabib Nurmagomedov, Kamaru Usman, and Israel Adesanya, as well as former Bellator middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi.
Aung La expressed his delight over the award on his official social media page.
“I’m blessed to be Fighters Only International Fighter of the Year. I want to thank my wife and my family for their love and support,” he stated. “I want to thank my trainers, Henri, Greg, Kami, and Dr. Peacock, and my team at HardKnock 365 for pushing me and inspiring me. You guys are what made this possible. I want to thank ONE Championship for providing me the platform to do what I love,” he added.
He also expressed gratitude to his fans from Myanmar. “And last, but not least, I want to thank the fans and the 60 million Burmese fans who voted for me and made this a reality,” he stated.
“I am from a small village in Myanmar and came to the US for college and started fighting MMA in 2005, and after 14 years of many heartbreaks, me standing in front of you tonight is a testament that dreams do come true. Thank you!,” he stated.
Aung La N Sang was the two-division world champion of ONE Championship in 2018.
Aung La recently defended his middleweight title at ONE’s blockbuster ‘A New Era’ event in Tokyo, Japan, by beating Japan’s Ken Hasegawa with a technical knockout (TKO) in the second round.
On 13 October this year, Aung La N Sang will defend his light heavyweight title against heavyweight champion Brandon Vera at the Ryogoku Sumo Hall in Tokyo.—Lynn Thit (Tgi)
