Song Mingyan, who appeared in a white shirt, suit trousers and a narrow black tie, walked along the aisle and high-fived the audience. If he hadn't been wearing a red and black boxing wristband, you might not have thought that this grand event held at the National Taiwan University Stadium was Asia's largest mixed martial arts event, the "ONE Fighting Championship." Song Mingyan, who represents Taiwan, is the number one player in the domestic Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). Song Mingyan, the founder of Wujia, accidentally became an angry boy and turned into a fighter.
In 2014, ONE FC moved to Taiwan for the first time to hold the "War of Dragons" competition. After the 34-year-old Song Mingyan appeared on the stage, he started to tear apart wildly. Get rid of the shirts and suits that symbolize restraint and face the 20-year-old player Li Jiajun from Singapore. Facing the challenge from young players, the more experienced Song Mingyan quickly defeated Li Jiajun and won the final victory on his own soil. This battle was not only his personal victory, but also a key battle that made Total Fighting Sports popular in Taiwan. This pioneer of MMA in Taiwan actually got to where he is now by accident. Speaking of his story, people can't help but think of the protagonist "Yang Guo" in the martial arts novel "The Legend of the Condor Heroes". Yang Guo was fatherless since he was a child, and his mother also died of illness. After being adopted by Guo Jing and his wife who lived in seclusion on Peach Blossom Island, he continued to learn various martial arts. Yang Guo, who was arrogant and superb in martial arts, became a hero after experiencing various setbacks in life. The Green Grass Lake in Hsinchu is the "Peach Blossom Island" where Song Mingyan grew up. Song Mingyan, who was raised by his grandmother as a child, was just like Yang Guo, a young man written by Jin Yong, who was quirky, lonely and angry. He was thin, short, and often bullied when he was a child. Every time he saw the handsome martial arts duels of comic book characters, he silently made the ambition to "learn martial arts" in his heart, thinking that one day, he would be able to overcome the pain he suffered in the past. Take back all your grievances. "I want to learn the best!" Song Mingyan learned martial arts all over the world
The Hsinchu Middle School Taekwondo Club was the "Zhongnan Mountain" where he officially started practicing martial arts. After entering Zhuzhong Taekwondo, Song Mingyan secretly planned to learn all the powerful Taekwondo moves, become the strongest, and then go out to fight. After he thought he was invincible, he found his first challenger, who learned karate. Unexpectedly, as soon as the opponent punched, the young and frivolous Yang Guo was beaten until his nose was bruised and his face was swollen. "How can you use your hands!" The other party replied to him: "No one said you can't use your hands." This sentence made Song Mingyan understand that the world of martial arts is vast, and it is not possible to conquer the world by relying on a single skill. From then on, he embarked on a broader path of martial arts: if he was beaten by judo, he would learn judo; if he was defeated by Sanda, he would learn Sanda. "Fighting skills are like puzzles and stacking blocks, especially in the big iron cage of MMA. There are no restrictions. The focus is only to knock down the opponent." So he also learned wrestling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, etc., just to find the strongest one. Martial arts. "The biggest influence on me was when I was learning judo, there was a big word "forbearance" hanging on the wall of the dojo." Song Mingyan said that before every judo practice, the coach asked everyone to face the word "forbearance" and meditate on what happened in the past. Then put all these things aside and start training in judo. "Because of this ceremony, I let out the anger in my heart little by little." Song Mingyan began to talk about the various setbacks in his life. From self-reliance in martial arts to supporting everyone who practices martial arts
Song Mingyan was kicked out of his home at the age of seventeen and cut off from his financial resources. In order to continue studying and practicing martial arts, he had to do two jobs every day: delivery He has been a waiter, a chicken and cake seller, a hotel master, a construction site laborer, and even a bodyguard who took bullets for the builder's boss. After working the closing shift of the fast food restaurant every day, he was homeless and had to live in an abandoned old house of a classmate. "At that time, my classmate also gave me an orange water pipe, so that I could take a shower more conveniently in the courtyard without hot water." Song Mingyan said, although he had to sleep in the hall of an ancient house that had been in disrepair, and the beams were still hanging high. I was looking at the deceased photos of my classmates and elders, but I was exhausted from going back there every day, and I couldn’t think about how weird this scene was. Song Mingyan, who worked part-time and struggled to support himself, gave up further education after graduating from Hsinchu High School. After joining the army, he returned to Hsinchu to continue working and continued to practice martial arts with his old friends. "Later, a senior who practiced martial arts with me said that he couldn't survive practicing martial arts every day, so he had to work as a worker to build scaffolding, which would be easier to earn.
” At this time, 26-year-old Song Mingyan discovered that even people with such high martial arts skills were forced to give up martial arts in order to have three meals a day. There was no way to go on like this, so I came up with the idea of ??opening my own gym: "If I can open a gym, I can invite them to be coaches. This is also a salary! It can give people who practice martial arts a place to live and settle down." ” Practicing martial arts and cultivating a tough character are difficult times.
In 2007, Song Mingyan, who was penniless, found a friend and borrowed a tin house to serve as a dojo, and he started running a martial arts gym. A new page in life. He has no business concept, no matter what he did or made in the past few years. Later, he participated in the entrepreneurship lectures of the Sports Department, and then slowly transformed the original gym into a business model focusing on "mass martial arts courses", and successively opened various martial arts fighting courses in Hsinchu and Taipei. "Shenbu Gym". However, good times don't last forever. Just when Song Mingyan won the ONE FC competition, the Shenwu Gym became famous and everything was slowly on track, he discovered that his old comrade who started the business together had secretly registered the "Shenwu" trademark. After all the pursuits failed to get a positive response, Song Mingyan decided to make a bold move. Not only did he rename the gym "Wu Jia" in one fell swoop, he also launched a sub-brand "Wu Jia PLUS Energy Training" and moved the Taipei branch to the originally smaller space. Arrive at Guting, re-anchor and move forward. "Learning to fight is a sports option with a high C/P value," Song Mingyan said. "Not only can you vent your anger, but it can also cultivate resilience and endurance. It is very suitable for modern people who are under pressure." These setbacks and tests did not knock him down. This modern Yang Guo instead inspired him to fight for the championship belt. "In the cage of fighting, fighters communicate with each other using fighting skills, and the goal is to try to knock down each other." Song Mingyan said that the current world champion is his idol, and if he has the opportunity to fight, it will feel great.
Song Mingyan instructs fighting students on their practice. Use fighting skills to compete with opponents, use tango to dance with the Little Dragon Girl
"Only through martial arts training can we understand the principles of life, dealing with things, and settling down." Looking back on his youth, Song Mingyan discovered: There is no such thing as the strongest in martial arts, everything depends on personal cultivation. Not only is his career and performance impressive, he also plans to learn "Argentine Tango", which may seem unrelated at first glance but has a similar temperament, for his "Little Dragon Girl" in the future. "This is an elegant and proud dance step. Once I learn it, I can dance with my girlfriend." It's rare to see a hint of tenderness in Song Mingyan's resolute expression. Yang Guo broke his arm and became the Condor Hero; Song Mingyan, after experiencing so many hardships, no longer thought about finding someone to fight and repay his grievances. At the age of 35, Song Mingyan has learned more unique martial arts skills in dealing with others. In the next championship challenge, he will use the fighting skills honed in his life to fiercely attack and defend against his strongest idol in a 25-minute human chess game. Even without the glittering championship belt, Song Mingyan is already a generation hero in Taiwan's MMA world.
Written by/Gaxi Photography/Deng Yingqian