As the 28-year-old prepares to face Japan’s Ryo Tajima in the bantamweight semi-final of Road to UFC in Shanghai on August 28, he traces his mentality to the lessons he grew up with in his village and particularly to his grandfather. New Delhi: Chungreng Koren has spent much of his life learning not to step back. It’s a philosophy rooted in Manipur’s soil and in familial traditions.
“If you’re a man, you have two choices: choose your path carefully first, and once you step onto it, you can’t step back. “And if you think you can’t go all the way, don’t step into it at all. That’s how they teach us in our village. Growing up in Manipur, opportunities outside sport were limited. “We can try for the Indian Army, or Manipur Police, or two or three things like that or farming work, that’s it. “For us in the North East, we don’t give up. “Once we take a step, we don’t step back. And once we take a step, we try to push all the way to the end point. Koren admitted he was nowhere near ready for that fight. “I suffered a brutal loss, and after that, my confidence completely fell. But the setback has made the present opportunity feel even more significant. “This is the last option God has given me. If I don’t move forward now, it will be very difficult.
That’s why I am 100% prepared.”
You have to fight until your last breath,” Koren told HT in a conversation facilitated by official broadcasters Sony Sports. “There aren’t big companies, and there are no jobs to do,” he said. That’s the main thing,” he said. “I just ran, cut weight, and went,” he said of his previous Road to UFC appearance. “This is the most important time for me, a part of my life, my journey,” he said.
That burden, however, has not diluted his ambition. Instead, it has sharpened it.
“No one from India has become a UFC champion yet, but whatever happens, my goal is only one – become a UFC champion,” Koren said. “Many better fighters will come if I don’t make it but one thing is for sure: I will fight until my last breath.”
Koren first joined Warrior’s Cove around 2021, after encountering head coach Ashwin Hoon in Bengaluru and being struck by his expertise in Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ). His preparation has taken him from Warrior’s Cove in Gurugram to Lions MMA Club in Phuket and back.
“I fight and earn by myself to educate my kids and support my family,” he said. “Because in our sport, there is no government recognition and we are not given jobs or rewards on the government side, we have to do everything on our own.”
