Singapore will see its first Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighter Royston Wee in his debut fight against Filipino Dave Galera on UFC Fight Night 34, set to happen here on Jan. 4, 2014 at Marina Bay Sands.
Below is an exclusive interview with the 26-year-old Singapore-born mixed martial artist, which includes comments from Impact MMA Academy manager Koh Kok Kwang.
The Fight Scene: There was a lot of excitement yesterday about you being the first mixed martial artist from Singapore to be on the UFC roster. How do you feel about that?
Royston Wee: I feel very happy and excited to be able to show my skills come fourth of Jan and definitely honoured to be signed by UFC.
You’ve got two wins via submission and you’ll be facing Dave Galera from Team Lakay who is a Brazilian Jiu-Jutsu (BJJ) specialist. What are your thoughts on that?
I respect that Dave has a very good ground game but I don’t fear him. In fact, I fight according to my opponent’s style. For my previous two fights, my opponents were strikers. So my strategy was to put them out of their comfort zone. My team of coaches and I have studied Dave’s style of fighting and we have concluded our own strategy against him. I believe I’m better than him in every aspect.
For a lot of fighters there is a lot of preparation like diet and training. Do you have any special methods or diets that you’re on?
I definitely eat cleaner than before but not to a point where it will affect my training because I still need the calories. And I’m not a very big bantamweight guy, so it’s easy for me to cut to 61. I don’t really worry about my weight at all.
We have other mixed martial artist from Impact MMA like Bruce Loh and Juan Wenjie. But by being in the UFC roster, will there be any specific change for your training back at Impact MMA?
For this fight, I find the best coaches that I can find. Like the best wrestling coach, the best tracking coach, the best BJJ coach and so on. I even choose my training partners. The only similarities my training partners have with my opponent is the height. But other than that, my training partners are bigger, stronger and better in every aspect. So, I have never been more focused for this fight.
Koh Kwok Kwang: One thing I’ve noticed is that the whole gym has gathered around him. Be it training partners or coaches, they have all put the time aside to do what it takes to help Royston. So that is something that we’re very grateful for. We’re not a very rich gym but we’re putting in a lot of resources, as many as we can to help him. A lot of the guys are not paid for it. They are just coming down to spar and get beaten up by him because they are supporting him. And for that we are grateful and have to thank these guys.
You’re 1.71 metres tall and Dave is 1.8 metres and has a longer reach over you. Will that be an advantage or a disadvantage for him?
The only thing that he has is height and that’s it. Like I said, I respect him but I don’t fear him. I feel that I’m better than him in every aspect of the game. I know he’s a good grappler and likes to bring his fights to the ground but I’m a good grappler too.
Is there anything you’d like to say to Dave Galera, if he hears your interview?
A lot of fighters come into the fight and try to psyche themselves up and try to hate their opponents. But to me, this is a business. A fight is a fight. I don’t know him, I don’t dislike him, in fact I don’t even know him. I respect him as a fighter, who agrees to fight with me and I hope both of us can put on a good show for our UFC debut.
Do you have anything to say to our local Singaporean fighters, now that you’re a role-model?
Like I said before, it really doesn’t matter to me if I’m the first Singaporean fighter to sign with UFC. I believe that in time to come, there’ll be more Singaporean fighters signing with UFC and the next generation of fighters are going to be really amazing.
Kwang: We want all those people who have been supporting him, to come down to MBS and bring along their Singapore flags and we want everyone there to give Royston that support and the power to fight.
Royston: I’m really thankful to my family, friend, team-mates, coaches. They’re out there to support me and give their best, sacrifice their time to train me. To the people who I don’t know out there and people who have been supporting me, I’m thankful to them and hope I can put on a great show.
Original story by: Ben Liu, The Fight Scene
