On Friday, 22 February, Phnom Penh MMA representative Khon Sichan will once again step onto the global stage of ONE Championship, and with the support of head trainer Alan Mccune, he believes they will continue climbing the ranks toward greatness.
The Khmer Warrior Challenge Flyweight Champion and Scotsman Alan are now in full preparation to take on Indonesian pride Rudy “Golden Boy” Agustian at ONE: CALL TO GREATNESS in Singapore.
Even though they are counting down the days to their toughest test to date, Mccune is more than confident in Sichan’s ability to prevail when facing difficult challenges.
He has seen it firsthand time and time again.
“He’s a different kind of character,” Alan Mccune explains. “He’ll fight from the bell to the end.”
Alan Mccune hails Khon Sichan’s abilities to learn
The duo’s journey began in 2013 when Mccune was coaching Khmer Warrior Challenge (KWC), and out of the vast amount of Cambodian competitors he had the opportunity to coach, Sichan stood out as a natural athlete with unlimited potential.
“Khon Sichan is definitely an absorber,” Alan states.
“You can give him five minutes with a ground technique, and he’ll directly get it at 90%.”
While Sichan grew up in Oddar Meanchey Province and trained from an early age, 51-year-old Mccune is also a life-long martial arts devotee stemming from an impressive lineage he shares with some of martial art’s most iconic personalities.
“The lineage is directly from Inosanto, Bruce Lee’s training partner,” Mccune states about his background.
“My instructor Rick Young from Scotland is the most senior UK instructor under him.”
Needless to say, when Mccune arrived in Cambodia in 2013 there were a lot of people excited to see what he could bring to a local scene brimming with excitement because of mixed martial arts new-found popularity.
Alan started as a coach at KWC
A big opportunity revealed itself when ALan got a phone call from legendary martial arts trainer Paddy Carson.
“CTN and MYTV had developed their own show for MMA and set up the KWC,” Alan explains. “Paddy Carson asked me: ‘Do you want to come and try out to be the MMA head coach?'”
“On that same day, I went [to CTN] in my shirt and trousers, not expecting anything, just to check it out.”
“It was sometime in the afternoon, and I walk around to the back of CTN, and there are 70 to 100 fighters lined up,” he continues.
“They wanted to see a full MMA display. They wanted to see takedowns; they wanted to see boxing, they wanted to see what I could bring in my experience as being a student under some of the best in the western world.”
“They really put me on the spot,” the trainer says with a laugh.
Mccune secured a spot as a trainer and Sichan ended up being the Khmer Warrior Challenge Flyweight Champion and later debuted for ONE Championship.
After almost a two-year-long hiatus, The Cambodian returned to the ONE Cage in March 2018 and looked sharper than ever when he clashed with Indonesian talent Riski “King Kong” Umar at ONE: VISIONS OF VICTORY, winning impressively and displaying a promising future.
On Friday, 22 February, Mccune and the Kun Khmer Champion are heading to Singapore to show “The Kingdom of Wonder” is a force to be reckoned with, and Sichan could be the one leading Cambodia into a new era of martial arts.
“Out of the seventy fighters I trained with at KWC, he’s the only one that I’ve really felt that connection with,” says Alan about Sichan’s potential.
ONE: CALL FOR GREATNESS on Friday, 22 February will provide the scene the duo needs to show the world what they have been working on since his last outing.
“What we’re looking to do, is getting Khon Sichan to that next level,” Mccune concludes.
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This article was first published on www.KhmerKomlang.com
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