Former ONE Lightweight MMA World Champion Ok Rae Yoon has never been interested in working out just for the sake of getting into shape. Rae Yoon has always stated that what keeps him going is his relentless force to succeed and in his latest take, he has emphasized his love for MMA.

The South Korean standout will soon return to action, as he’s set to take on undefeated Turkish sensation Alibeg Rasulov for the ONE Interim Lightweight MMA World Title in the main event of ONE Fight Night 23 on Prime Video.

Ok Rae Yoon was into early sporting passion and academic pursuit

That clash is slated to go down live in U.S. primetime on July 5 at the historic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. A veteran of 21 professional fights, including five thrilling battles inside the world’s largest martial arts organization, Rae Yoon recently spoke about finding his passion for mixed martial arts.

Growing up in Busan, South Korea native was always active and drawn to sports of all kinds. Speaking in an interview with One Championship, Rae Yoon said, “I loved sports. I never felt any interest or passion for anything other than things that made my heart beat fast through exercise.”

In college, Ok Rae Yoon studied sports and sports science. While most of his classmates completed their studies and started working as personal trainers or exercise scientists, Rae Yoon wanted to use his knowledge to boost his own performance. His knowledge has helped him immensely in his fights.

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Rae Yoon’s evolution of interest and training in MMA

The 33-year-old revealed he was not passionate about one sport while growing up and would not spend much time in the gym either. He was interested in new sports

“I never was too interested in hitting the gym for my exercises. I always preferred other sports. Of course, now I hit the weights more to enhance my abilities and conditioning for MMA performance. But when I was younger, I never felt the desire to hit the gym. Instead, I wondered whether there were new sports I could get into,” Rae Yoon explained.

Like countless other young men, Rae Yoon took an interest in MMA simply as a fan. From there, his passion for hand-to-hand combat only grew. Although he grew up competing in taekwondo, it wasn’t until Rae Yoon joined the South Korean military that he discovered and fell in love with MMA. He had a lot of time in hand to watch MMA on TV while he was serving in the military and it was by watching the sport regularly that he fell in love with it.