Former swim champ May Ooi hoping to make a splash on ONE C'ship debut

SINGAPORE - While Team Singapore's athletes are getting ready to for the 29th SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur, a former Singapore national swimmer and multiple-SEA Games medal winner is also getting ready for competition in the Malaysian capital.  

Ex-swimming champion turned MMA exponent May Ooi will be making her debut in the ONE Championship cage at the Stadium Negara on Friday night (Aug 18). She will be taking on Malaysian star Ann “Athena” Osman on the main card of ONE: QUEST FOR GREATNESS, in a three-round female strawweight contest.

The 37-year-old Ooi, who has a fight record of 2-2, believes that the KL SEA Games is the perfect backdrop to rehash an old Singapore and Malaysia rivalry. The debutant also reckons that her match against Osman (5-3) will be one of the most interesting on the stacked card.

“The rivalry between Singapore and Malaysia is legendary,” said Ooi. “From sports to the Malaysia Cup days, to politics and to who has the better nasi lemak and mee siam. Anything between Singapore and Malaysia will always have a lot more publicity and interest.”

After winning a string of gold medals at the SEA Games in the 1990s, Ooi is now hoping to bring home the gold in the mixed martial arts cage.

When asked what her ultimate goal in the sport is, she answered simply: “To be champion.

“The conditioning, mental attitude and the discipline to train and eat right from my swimming days help a lot. I have gone through those things before and getting back into competitive sports now is second nature.”

Previously competing in smaller promotions, Ooi is excited to make her ONE Championship debut .

“It’s exciting and I’m very honoured to have been invited to fight in Asia’s largest and toughest proving ground," she said.  "It will be a very special journey with ONE and I would like to thank them for the opportunity.”

Ooi has three rounds to prove she belongs in the cage with the best in the world. But she will be facing a formidable first opponent in Osman who will enjoy vociferous home support. 

“Ann Osman is a well-respected mixed martial artist, a powerful wrestler and a great representative of women’s MMA in South-east Asia,” said Ooi.

“It’s a great stylistic match-up between us. I’m really looking forward to stepping into the cage to her, but she needs to be well prepared for what is coming at her.”