Aung La N Sang announces retirement, sets sights on coaching Reinier de Ridder to become UFC Champion. MMA legend Aung La N Sang has announced that he will be retiring from competition after his upcoming bout at ONE Fight Night 36, bringing an end to a storied career that spanned more than a decade.
For over a decade, Aung La N Sang has been a stalwart at ONE Championship where he previously reigned as a two-division champion while taking on challenge across multiple divisions during his career. The former two-division ONE Championship champion says the decision comes from a place of peace, health, and a desire to focus on the next generation of fighters.
“I’m 40 now. You can’t fight forever,” Aung La N Sang told MMA Fighting. “It’s better for me to spend my time raising the next generation than to keep fighting. You can see we’re building a gym here, too, so this is the next step in my life. “You’ve seen it many times. Tony Ferguson, all these guys. You know the [third] time when Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell are fighting, and they shouldn’t be fighting. You know for a fact that they shouldn’t be fighting. I don’t want to be in that same boat, and while I’m healthy, I want to build something else.”
One of the most striking aspects of his retirement plan is who he hopes to guide next which is Reinier de Ridder. The two shared the cage twice in ONE Championship, where de Ridder defeated Aung La N Sang to claim middleweight and light heavyweight gold. Those battles, however, laid the groundwork for mutual respect and now Aung La N Sang
counts de Ridder as a close friend and teammate, who he hopes to help become a champion again only this time in the UFC.
“I don’t think it’s crazy,” Aung La N Sang said about his relationship with de Ridder. “It happens all the time. You know this sport is very small and the guys at the top, they tend to run into each other. For me it’s just an honor to be a part of his camp and I know his game very well, obviously spending that many rounds with him. I know how good he is. For me, it’s really cool.”
“You think about MMA and everyone thinks about UFC,” Aung La N Sang said. “But how is it possible that a guy that’s been doing MMA and championship fights outside the UFC and doing exactly what these guys are doing, wouldn’t be as good as them? Some people are delusional in that sense.
“If a person plays soccer at a very high level, just because they don’t play at Real Madrid or something like that, it doesn’t mean they’re good. I know how good Reinier is. I also know where his weaknesses are but I know from an MMA standpoint why he’s so successful and why he’s so good.” “I’m 99 percent sure,” Aung La N Sang said with a laugh. “I’m 99 percent sure this is it. Because I’m an MMA fighter.”
Aung La N Sang may be stepping away from competition, but his legacy as one of Asia’s greatest MMA icons is already etched in history. Now, his journey continues not inside the cage but in the gym, where he hopes to mold champions of tomorrow and perhaps even guide Reinier de Ridder to UFC gold.
