On the evening of September 24, Kim Jae Woong will be the opponent of the former Vietnamese champion Martin Nguyen in a 3 -round MMA match at One: Revolution.
Mainly playing in the Korean arena, Kim Jae Woong is one of the punches that rarely proactively revealed her private life. However, Kim was quite calm when he admitted that he had a past with a lot of trouble, and many things made him regret. “It is important that they leave me many lessons,” Kim shared.
From bullies to professional boxers
Coming from a middle-class family in Gyeonggi-do province, at first, Kim Jae Woong was a victim of school violence during the elementary school years. The turning point came to him when Kim started studying Taekwondo at secondary school – then Kim Jae Woong changed 180 degrees and became a bully in the eyes of other classmates.
“I am small, thin with a big and overwhelming head, which is why I was bullied,” Kim Jae Woong recounted.
“When I was a child, I once believed that taking violence was a solution so that I would not be bullied. I neglected studying, having bad friends and tattooed – I used to burn 1.2 million won into a monster tattoo on my chest and another tattoo on my back. With those tattoos, the” young buffalo “was boring and less trouble with me. Later I pressed the dragon -shaped tattoo, covered my back.”
Kim Jae Woong shared that things were quite bad when entering high school – dropping out of school, fighting with the nipples in the neighborhood with him was everyday.
“I know, if I keep everything like this, my future will not go anywhere,” Kim admitted. “I want to become a true man, not a clutch.”
That is the main reason for Kim Jae Woong to decide to spend time for martial arts. Along with a friend, Kim Jae Woong knocked on the door of the Hwaseong Extreme Combat of Coach Im Jaek, starting playing Kickboxing and very quickly achieved the first success when continuously winning the matches in the region.
The more he hit the more aggressive, in 2011, Kim beat nationwide and won the 68kg weight gold medal.
Along with the bloom of antagonistic floors in Korea, Kim Jae Woong became a professional boxer. Despite playing MMA, Kim's strength is mainly hitting with Kickboxing.
Arrogant and the price to pay
After a series of victory over 3 domestic punchers, Kim Jae Woong faced the first major challenge: Wataru Miki-an old Japanese puncher with a record 20-11-6. Obviously at the lower door, but Kim Jae Woong had an overwhelming victory. This made him “lightheaded” for months.
“I have confirmed to everyone that I will be the dominant Korean ring in the next 3 years,” Kim said.
Subjectively to the rivals in the country, Kim Jae Woong immediately tasted an unsightly defeat against Kim Dong Gyu at the TFC 2 event – he was lowered by the opponent after 32 seconds of the first half.
“So I left the martial arts floor to enlist, it was early winter 2014,” Kim Jae Woong recounted.
“I was demobilized in July 2016. 2 years in the army enough for me to know that I was still in pain about the stage. As soon as I was discharged from the army, I returned to the gym and in 2017, I fought the first match.”
And it was a perfect comeback – Kim Jae Woong Ha Knockout Hong Jun Young in only 1 minute 23 seconds in the first half. The consecutive victories at TFC brought Kim Jae Woong to the weight champion of the Featherweight here. After that, Kim tried at Cage Gladiators, and then came to One Championship in 2019.
“The rivals at One Championship are very classy. But I have faith,” Kim Jae Woong said. “My goal is the championship – I will do my best to reach that throne as quickly as possible.”