Yodkaikaew “Y2K” Fairtex makes his ONE Championship debut this Friday, 14 August, at ONE: NO SURRENDER II in Bangkok, Thailand.

The 29-year-old Thai native will step into the ring against England’s John Shink in a flyweight mixed martial arts contest.

Before he does, however, “Y2K” looks back on how he got into the Fairtex Training Center and what the first week of training was like.

It all started when Yodkaikaew saw Muay Thai on television and asked his father to take him to a gym so he could try it out.

The patriarch brought him to Fairtex in Pattaya, but unfortunately, they wouldn’t accept him because he had no experience.

Yodkaikaew never gave up, though, and he showed up at the gym repeatedly until one day – after trying to get on the team five times – his luck suddenly changed.

“They accepted me,” he said.

Getting on the team might have been challenging, but it was nothing compared to what would follow.

The Fairtex newbie struggled to keep up with the training program during his first week at the fabled camp.

Luckily for him, he had his dad by his side to remind him of how badly he wanted this dream.

“I cried every day,” Yodkaikaew said. “I told my father I wanted to go back home. I could not take it anymore.

“My father told me that I tried to get in like five or six times. ‘Why do I want to go back now?’

“Since then, I was fine. I trained my body to get into shape. When my body was in shape, I could train continuously.”

After acclimating to the training, Yodkaikaew went on to compete in Bangkok’s Muay Thai circuit and won The Champion Muay Thai 65-kilogram Dat Chuek belt at MAX Muay Thai Stadium.

More recently, he made the transition to mixed martial arts, where he competed both in Thailand and in China. To date, he has racked up a 4-2-1 record with three wins coming by knockout.

Will he be able to use those finishing skills against Shink on Friday night?

Tune in to find out at ONE: NO SURRENDER II this Friday, 14 August, by downloading the ONE Super App.

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