From tumbling opponents in the ring to baking apple crumble, this recent NTU grad and pro MMA fighter can do anything he sets his mind to
by Lester Hio
When many of his peers might be refreshing their wardrobes with office wear, Sim Kai Xiong, 24, is stripping down to his tights and donning his gloves to wrestle, box and spar with some of the best fighters in the world looking to get a similar hit in.
Kai Xiong, who became a pro mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter in 2019 before COVID-19 put a rude stop to his fledgling MMA career, is now dedicated to training full-time, after winning the biggest fight of his life to date: completing his degree.
The Sport Science & Management graduate also had a huge showing in April this year at the BRAVE Combat Federation fight in Incheon, South Korea, a huge regional pro MMA event where he knocked out South Korean fighter Chang Ho Lee and disrupted Chang’s six-win streak in the process.
“I felt this almost strange sense of destiny, that this was what I expected all my life,” says Kai Xiong. “It was finally my time and no one could take that away from me. It was the best I have ever felt. I was as ready as I was ever going to be, and when I stepped into the ring, I knew I wasn’t going to lose.”
Kai Xiong started entering amateur tournaments in 2014, and has spent the past eight years building up his skills and racking up competition experience. The decision to go pro came when he was serving his national service in 2017 as a platoon commander on Pulau Tekong.
“You don’t know what you want until it’s gone,” he says. “When I couldn’t train, I had a major case of FOMO. That’s when I realised MMA was something I really wanted in my life.”
The easygoing, jovial pro MMA fighter is quick to dispel the myth that performing in the ring is easy money.
He covers his own airfare and accommodation expenses for most of his amateur matches abroad. Even as he goes pro, he does part-time coaching and freelances as a martial arts teacher.
“We’re not aggressive!”
Another big myth is the notion that fighters are aggressive people, Kai Xiong reveals. “Most of the fighters I know are nerdy, goofy and very light-hearted. What you see in the ring isn’t a true reflection of their personalities. Otherwise, imagine how tiring it must be being angry all the time!”
The self-confessed “food monster” is also very amused that people think MMA fighters subsist on healthy diets of boiled chicken and brown rice.
“After my fight in Korea, my coach and I went crazy on street food. We started eating at 11am and ended at 3am that night. We had burgers, pizza, cold noodles, fried chicken, Korean barbecue, chips, ice cream and brownies. I weighed 56kg on Friday’s weigh-in and left Korea on Sunday weighing 70kg,” he lets on.
His opponents aren’t the only thing that Kai Xiong crumbles – he also whips up a mean apple crumble, after learning how to bake when he was recovering from surgery last year.
“I was getting bored lying in bed. What’s a food-obsessed fighter with lots of free time on his hands to do? I was looking at recipes online, found one for apple crumble that looked good and easy, and started baking from there,” he says.
Luckily, his gruelling training schedule keeps the calories burning. While the intensity of training differs depending on upcoming fights, Kai Xiong generally tries to work out daily, with Sundays as his recovery days.
Did he work as hard in school as he did in the ring? Not really, Kai Xiong says, laughing. “To be really honest, I was more diligent when preparing for a fight. There is an immediate physical consequence if I take a fight lightly – I get hit in the face! There’s no such pressure for exams.”
However, his time in university made him a better athlete by giving him a holistic understanding of his body.
Kai Xiong elaborates: “Studying at NTU gave me good ideas about what to factor into my own training, such as nutrition and how my metabolism works.”
This story was published in the Jun-Aug 2022 issue of HEY!. To read it and other stories from this issue in print, click here.
