The electrical engineering student who worked many jobs to stay in the capital now earns money by... "fighting". He is one of Vietnam's top fighters in the MMA (mixed martial arts) arena.
"A few years ago, I didn't think I would make a living from martial arts to support my family," Pham Van Nam confided. The champion of the 56 kg weight class LION Championship - the largest MMA arena in Vietnam - confessed that he only learned martial arts "for fun", and to protect himself, to avoid being bullied like when he was a child.
Until he was 30, in Nam's mind, martial arts was not a job. He did many jobs to make a living, from repairing electricity and water, helping in stores, working as a construction worker and driving a motorbike taxi. Martial arts was just a daily sport, practiced to stay healthy.
Pham Van Nam changed his life thanks to martial arts.
I didn't expect to make so much money from fighting.
It wasn’t until 2018 that Pham Van Nam took on his first martial arts-related jobs. Every day, he drove a motorbike taxi from 4am to 7pm, and taught martial arts at night. In addition, he worked as a hired athlete for a local team, competing in two tournaments a year. He called those days “cowardly”, there were days when he had no money left in his pocket, so he didn’t dare to fall in love.
Pham Van Nam's career turning point came in 2021, the boom period of the Vietnamese MMA community with the birth of the sport's federation and consecutive large-scale, official tournaments with huge bonuses. Pham Van Nam still remembers the first time he went to "fight" and brought home tens of millions of dong to give to his wife.
"I have never received such a large amount of money. I won 30 million, lost 10 million, and did not have to pay for airfare or accommodation. On the day of the fight, there was an announcement that each winner would receive another 50 million, so it was 80 million. At that time, my wife had just given birth at home, so I was determined to get the 80 million ," Pham Van Nam recounted.
That was also the time when he decided that martial arts was a decent profession that could make money, and importantly, he realized that he was capable of winning more than those bonuses.
In 2022, Pham Van Nam won the 56 kg championship belt of the LION Championship. The bonus of 200 million VND, after tax and a few other expenses, he gave about 60% to his wife to take care of the children and open a small bakery.
Interestingly, it was not until he became a champion that Pham Van Nam began practicing martial arts full-time. He packed his bags and went to Ho Chi Minh City to train and truly became a professional boxer.
“I am a pragmatic person. I have to eat first. I am lucky because I have a free training place and many people support me. Many people message me asking how to become a martial artist. I advise that if you do not have stable finances, you should not pursue it. You have to maintain your life to pursue your passion,” Pham Van Nam shared.
Boxer Pham Van Nam is one of the first champions of professional MMA in Vietnam.
Earn money by blood
Boxing is a profession that literally earns money with blood and sweat. There is no easy victory in this sport, it is always fighting and being beaten. Unless you are knocked out right at the start of the match, most of the time the winner has to take a fair amount of beatings. Pham Van Nam has not lost a single match in 7 official matches, but there is no time when he is not bruised.
In the 2022 LION Championship match in Phu Quoc, the boxer from Quang Ninh entered the ring with dyed blond hair, but by the end of the match, it had turned red. The image of Pham Van Nam's wife running into the ring, crying, holding a towel to wipe the blood from her husband's disfigured face - who had just won - caused a stir on social media.
After that time, Pham Van Nam’s wife did not dare to sit in the stands to watch her husband compete. She and her mother-in-law went to the gym but only waited outside, only going in when the match was over. “ My wife was afraid to see her husband being beaten ,” said the 56kg Vietnamese MMA champion.
Every time a fighter steps into the ring, he is betting on his own body. Pham Van Nam himself once “took a big risk” in exchange for a big contract. That was when he decided to accept an invitation to fight in ONE Championship (Asia’s largest MMA arena), while he was being treated for shoulder and back injuries, so severe that he could not lift his arms to punch.
Is the money earned with blood and pain worth it? For Nam “Chou”, winning is still worth it. He considers himself luckier than many of his colleagues, because when entering the ring, everyone has to shed sweat and blood equally. However, the prize money for the winner and the loser is very different.
“I was lucky because I still won so I could take the money home and give it to my wife. That was the money I had to put in sweat, effort and blood. If I lost, the effort I put in would still be the same, but the amount of money would be much less. So I had to try to win ,” said boxer Pham Van Nam./.
Source: https://vtcnews.vn/tu-xe-om-phu-ho-thanh-cao-thu-vo-viet-ar923028.html
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