Only having picked up Muay Thai sports at the age of 12, De Jun’s incredible talent has made him one of the most sought after Muay Thai stars in Singapore.
We invited De Jun to our MOA Sports Night 2 Livestreaming show in May where he shared more about himself and his passion for Muay Thai.
De Jun was featured in MOA Sport Night 2 live streaming show to share his story
Read on to find out more about this Muay Thai Athlete and his incredible story.
Muay Thai wasn't your first love but Taekwondo, why the change?
Since young, I've always been interested in martial arts. I've actually wanted to start off with Taekwondo because the Taekwondo school is just located in between my house and my primary school.
So my mom brought me there. I was so excited after that my mom was ready to buy the Taekwondo attire for me. Suddenly, a black belt guy kicked the pad so hard in the centre during his training. Boom, I got scared. And guess what? I went home.
Hence, I didn't really think of joining martial arts anymore. Until the Ong Bak’s show came up, I felt that the actor, Tony Jaa, was very cool. So I decided to join Muay Thai . I told my mom and she brought me to the nearest Muay Thai gym near my place then. So that's how I started Muay Thai sports.
How has Muay Thai influenced your life?
I would say it makes me a lot more disciplined and more goal-orientated , because when I was younger, I honestly didn't know what I wanted to do. I became a very competitive person after doing Muay Thai. I told myself that I wanted to be the best. Along the journey, I've learned to sacrifice in order to reach my goal. My lifestyle was quite simple. My life was just school and gym. Why? Because I wanted to be a Muay Thai champion. Muay Thai taught me to prioritize my time properly and focus on my goals.
De Jun was competing in Asian Championship 2018 in Macau to fight against his opponent
What are the challenges you have faced and how have you overcome them?
There are a lot of responsibilities as a Singaporean kid. Our parents will want us to get good grades in our studies so that we can get a good career in future. I remembered that my school exam period clashed with my first competition in the South East Asian (SEA) Games in Malaysia in 2017.
During that period, I had to diet to cut my weight and I even brought my laptop to Malaysia to study and to compete at the same time. That process was very tough and stressful for me as I was coping with my competition , school exam , and training twice for at least five hours a day.
Another challenge to me is during the process of dieting. I have to cut about eight to ten kg every time I compete. So my diet has to be very strict to the point that it affects me psychologically.
So these are the two main challenges that I face.
What do you do other than Muay Thai?
I found my new passion in this journey, which is teaching. It came to me after winning a few fights, you know, people started asking me, how do you do this? How do you do that?
So that's when I started sharing about some of my skills to the people. It feels great because I can see that they are very appreciative and happy to learn from me. It gives me a very nice feeling. Hence, the passion to teach grows even more.
MOA Founder, Evelyn was learning Muay Thai from De Jun
Does teaching people Muay Thai cause distraction and occupy your time for training?
I don't see it as a distraction. I can't train for three, four hours everyday. Teaching to me is also part of training. When I train, I practice the combinations and the moves that I've been used to and improve on that. When I teach, I would discover new things as everybody has different styles e.g. some people like to punch more , some like to kick more. I will adapt to their style and think of some Muay Thai combinations to fit them better. When I explore such combinations, I will try to apply them to me as well.
I actually learn when I teach as my students sometimes will ask me questions that I don't really think about. So it intrigues me to think about it. I feel that teaching actually helped me to better my game.
What is your ultimate goal?
My goal is to make it to ONE FC (ONE Championship) and become the champion at ONE FC. That's the biggest stage for Muay Thai right now
De Jun won the semi final fight in the Fight Evolution 3 against his opponent from Philippines
Why do you want to be the champion?
I want to influence people. A lot of people think that Singapore is a very small country and we don't produce a lot of good athletes. I want to show people that even in a small country like Singapore, we can produce quality athletes.
De Jun’s focus and determination to be the best has made him become one of the rising Muay Thai stars in Singapore
How supportive is your family when you engage in Muay Thai?
I'm very blessed to have very supportive parents. My dad has been to every one of my fights in Singapore, even for my SEA game in Malaysia. He will travel all the way to support me. So I have a very supportive father. But my mum, on the other hand, she's very supportive in another way. When I started joining Muay Thai, she was always very dismissive.Guess what, she's learning Muay Thai right now. She likes to show her support in different ways e.g. when I have to cut down my weight, she will wake up at 4 a.m. to prepare my meals for me before I go to school. These are some of the efforts I see she put in to support me. She doesn't see my fight, I guess maybe is because she's afraid of me getting hurt so she shows her support in another way, which I really appreciate.
To find out more on the full sharing of Dejun and his Muay Thai’s demonstration, you can watch our video live streaming show here: http://bit.ly/SN2E1
If you would like to explore Dejun’s Muay Thai session (individual/group), MOA members will get to enjoy an exclusive 15% off, feel free to find out more details at our site: https://www.ministryofadventure.com/partners-brands . All levels are welcome!