Former ONE Two-Division King Sensing Another Title Reign Despite Gatekeeper Status

ONE Championship is set to make its maiden debut in the United States on May 5 with ONE Fight Night 10, and former two-division champion Aung La N Sang will take part of the undercard against Fan Rong.

"The Burmese Python" has steadily worked his way back to relevance thanks to back-to-back TKO victories against Yushin "Thunder" Okami and Gilberto Galvao in November 2022 and in January of this year respectively.

At 37, many would believe that Aung La N Sang is on the backend of his storied career, but the former ONE middleweight and light heavyweight champion believes he has a lot left in his tank.

"I want to keep the gate before I storm back into my castle. I want to beat everybody. I want to beat everybody, and I want to get my title back. Being a gatekeeper, people think you're washed up. People think you should hang it up. I want to show that it's not," Aung La N Sang said about his career's trajectory.

The pride of Myanmar has faced big names throughout his ONE Championship career and has picked up victories over the likes of former heavyweight king Brandon Vera and then-middleweight titlist Vitaly Bigdash.

While he has battled the who's who in the organization, Aung La N Sang reiterated that anyone who dares to hope of fighting for the middleweight title should abandon all hope when faced against him.

"Everybody that comes through the door, I want to welcome them, I want to put on a statement, and I want to get everybody out of there until it's time for me to get my title shot back," he declared.

This past January, Aung La N Sang was not actually supposed to fight Galvao at ONE Fight Night 6 as his originally scheduled opponent, Fan, tested positive for COVID-19 at the time.

Aung La N Sang bares no ill will towards Fan's side for pulling out as it was simply unavoidable happening in the world today as it still trudges past the grips of the pandemic.

"I mean, I don't need extra motivation. I have motivation in me already. There's a reason why I fight. And it's bigger than Fan Rong. It's bigger than me. I don't need extra motivation. I'm just going to go out there," Aung La N Sang mentioned.

Fan has split his first four ONE Championship bouts with wins over Sherir Mohamed and Yuri Simoes, while he lost by submission to both Reinier de Ridder in 2019 and Bigdash two years ago.

The former two-division champion could care less about his opponent's achievements as he just wants to get the whole thing past him at this point.

"Sometimes, the outcomes are not good. But it is what it is. For me, it doesn't matter. Fan Rong, we're scheduled again. I am motivated to put on a good show against him. It's nothing personal, for sure," a pensive Aung La N San said.

ONE Fight Night 10 takes place at the 1stBank Center in Denver, Colorado on May 5 with the headliner being the trilogy bout for the ONE flyweight title between Demeterious Johnson and Adriano Moraes.