Yu Yau Pui tore up ONE Friday Fights and earned a six-figure contract with ONE Championship. She made good in her first U.S. primetime appearance in March at ONE Fight Night 20 with a unanimous decision win over Lara Fernandez.
But her march up the atomweight ranks will have another serious roadblock at ONE Fight Night 24 on Friday, Aug. 2. Scotland’s Amy Pirnie will make her promotional debut in Bangkok to try and stop the rising Chinese star’s ascent.
“I actually heard about Pirnie a very long time ago because she’s very renowned as a female fighter. She’s very strong and very powerful,” Yu mentioned to ONE.
“When I first heard her name, I don’t remember if I had even started competing yet. I know that she has so much experience on many platforms and many big stages. I consider myself an underdog.”
That underdog mentality will help drive Yu to prepare for three rounds of intense action.
The 31-year-old expects her opponent to showcase her power during the early stages but then expects her grit to take over as Pirnie’s gas tank empties.
“Pirnie is a very experienced fighter. She definitely has the KO power because she’s very muscular. But I think if you have one strength, you also have weaknesses. I know to maintain such a muscular body, you need to consume a lot of energy. Because she has not fought for a long time, I may have better conditioning than her,” the Chinese talent remarked.
“I don’t know about the beginning of the fight, but I hope it will last for three rounds, where I can definitely find her weaknesses and find a way to work through [her strengths].”
“I don’t like predictions. I know that anything could happen inside the ring and everything is possible. I’ll just let my fight tell the story.”
What fans may find most shocking is that Yu is not concerned with losing. Although she sports a perfect 6-0 record in ONE, the Hong Kong native merely wants to show her best skills in each match, win or lose.
“I’m not the kind of person who’s very afraid of losing. I don’t think anybody can be undefeated for their entire career. There are so many opponents who are stronger than you, smarter than you. You will be defeated one day,” Yu said.
“The problem is how you take the failure and how you treat it as a lesson to grow, to learn, to reveal the mistakes, and to improve yourself. That’s all that matters.”
If Yu can get the victory, she knows the gold will not be too far off. While the atomweight contender stopped short of calling for a title shot, she was very clear that after Aug. 2, she would turn her attention to ONE atomweight Muay Thai champion Allycia Hellen Rodrigues.
“I don’t know [if a win would earn a World Title shot]. It depends on ONE Championship. It depends on Mr. Chatri. But now that I’m in ONE Championship, when the time comes, I’ll beat her if I can,” Yu stated.
“She’s very strong. Not just her body, of course, but her mindset is also very strong. After she gave birth, she came back and defended her title. I think this is a very powerful thing for female fighters to do. She’s also very skillful. I respect her a lot.”
“If I get a title shot and it’s a five-round match, I will need to find an opening to defeat her in round three or round four maybe.”
ONE Fight Night 24 airs live and free on Prime Video to all U.S. and Canadian Amazon Prime subscribers at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on Friday, Aug. 2.