After five consecutive wins on ONE Friday Fights, Yu Yau Pui jumped into the spotlight at ONE Fight Night 20 with a unanimous decision win over Lara Fernandez.
Firmly in the mix in the atomweight Muay Thai division, Yu returns at ONE Fight Night 24 on Prime Video on Friday, August 2, against Scotland’s Amy Pirnie.
Despite her unbeaten ONE tenure, Yu is taking a cautious approach, knowing the years of experience her opponent will bring with her into Lumpinee Stadium.
“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 told 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.”
The Chinese star is planning on something other than a first-round knockout to end her Scottish foe. Given what she has seen on film, Yu intends to draw the match out and utilize her conditioning to give her the best shot at making it seven straight wins on the global stage.
“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 striker 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.”
The Hong Kong native knows the unbeaten mark has elevated her into the thick of things at atomweight. However, she puts little emphasis on her perfect promotional record.
In the end, a match-by-match mindset continues to push Yu forward, not the allure of remaining perfect.
“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 admitted.
“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.”
With a win, a title shot may not be too far away for the Chinese talent. And Yu knows it.
Although Yu is not calling for an immediate title shot, she states she would be ready for a showdown with ONE Atomweight Muay Thai World Champion Allycia Hellen Rodrigues if the time comes.
And she is already envisioning a path to bring gold back home to Hong Kong.
“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 said.
“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 on Friday, August 2, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.