"Destiny lies where you put most of your energy" - Xie Wei talks transition from Shaolin monk to ONE Championship fighter
https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/edit...62582-1920.jpgi[Photo Credit: ONE Championship] Xie Wei
Timothy Wheaton
CONTRIBUTOR
Modified 01 Jun 2022
Thousands of years of martial arts have been developed through the Shaolin Temple. Former Shaolin monk Xie Wei stepped away from his studies there to enter MMA.
Today, he is a promising prospect in ONE Championship and combines modern MMA with ancient martial arts teaching.
'The Hunter' Xie Wei was inspired by movies he saw online to study Shaolin Kung Fu. He spent years drilling at the legendary temple and eventually became a martial arts instructor there.
The Shaolin Temple in Zhengzhou, China dates back nearly 1,500 years and today, it is a UNESCO Heritage Site. The monks at this temple studied and developed both Zen Buddhism and martial arts. It is said that the basis for all martial arts began here.
Xie Wei became a warrior monk and studied Shaolin Kung Fu to become a teacher of it. When he decided to leave the temple and pursue a career in MMA, this decision was not supported by his family. However, after seeing him perform, they came around. Their support pushed him even harder to succeed.
Speaking to ONE, Wei said:
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“In the beginning, they didn’t support me, but since my father watched me perform in my first fight he saw something I couldn’t and that makes him realize I have the material for this."
Turning from traditional Kung Fu to Mixed Martial Arts is not an easy path. He had his first professional MMA fight in 2017 and traded wins and losses. With each setback, his coach always helped support and educate him. Losses became opportunities to learn.
His coach, Liu Jin Wen, was an important factor in teaching this lesson. Wei explained:
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"No matter whether I won or lost, [my coach] always helped me to analyze my fights so I can see how I performed in each one. My coach has a saying, ’Your destiny lies where you put most of your energy and time,’ and you will get what you work for. He tells me if I work hard I will see the results, but meanwhile, enjoy the process.”
Eventually, Xie Wei developed and showed enough promise that in 2019, he made his debut in the ONE Hero Series.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngns...ature=emb_logo
The Chinese-born fighter put together a very impressive win streak as he entered ONE Championship. Xie Wei was developing his all-round skills but was still very dangerous on the feet due to his past training.
Incredibly, the young fighter won his first five fights in a row in ONE, all by way of KO/TKO. In fact, he was able to stop three of his opponents in the very first round.
Importantly, he never let the success get to him. Instead, he treated these fights as a learning experience. Speaking to ONE Championship, he stated:
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"I treated it as part of my training – training like a soldier to make myself tougher. To me, ONE Hero Series was a preparation and a chance to know myself more clearly."
Xie moved from ONE Warrior series to ONE Championship, and faced Filipino Danny Kingad on his debut. Kingad is a former top title contender and Grand Prix runner-up to Demetrious Johnson.
It was a tall order for a young and developing fighter such as Wei. He lost this bout, his official debut in ONE, via unanimous decision. It was a disappointing result, but it did prove that he belonged on the main stage. He hung in there with the best of the division.
The young fighter took a lesson from that loss and began working even harder. His goal of ONE Championship gold never wavered.
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“I have already passed the hardest test in my ONE debut against Danny Kingad... But that’s just history now. I will get back to my winning streak very soon. And in the near future, I’ll become China’s first male world champion.”
Since this loss, Xie Wei has put together an impressive series of victories. He first stopped Chan Rothana in the third round with a series of punches. It was an important fight to get back in the win column.
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ONE Championship
@ONEChampionship
Chinese star Xie Wei 🇨🇳 starts the show with a third-round KO of Chan Rothana! #ONECollisionCourse #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship
'The Hunter' next met Kantharaj Shankar Agasa, a wrestling-based fighter. Xie was able to defend against most of the aggressive takedown attempts from Agasa. Even when he was taken down, he was able to get back to his feet. This was an important test for him.
A flying knee which landed for Xie Wei opened a large cut on his opponent. The bleeding could not be stopped so 'The Hunter' was declared the winner via TKO.
Dae Hwan Kim was the most recent fight for Xie Wei. He faced early adversity in and got dropped with a punch in round one. He then survived a submission attempt.
Xie Wei survived round one just to give it all back in round two. Wei dropped his opponent and nearly finished him. Going into the third frame, Xie was the better conditioned fighter.
Kim was hit with sharper punches from a fighter who had more energy. Wei dug to the body and won via liver-punch TKO. Having begun his ONE Championship career with a loss, 'The Hunter' has now picked up three TKO wins in a row.
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ONE Championship
@ONEChampionship
"The Hunter" hits the liver! 😱 #ONEBattleground3 #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship
Xie Wei will next face submission specialist Reece McLaren on June 3 at ONE 158. A win here would likely move him into the top five rankings in the flyweight division. A victory would also bring him even closer to fighters such as Adriano Moraes and 'Mighty Mouse' Demetrious Johnson.
The former Shaolin monk is looking to hold a ONE Championship title. He is hoping for another victory on June 3 to move closer to that goal.
