The Reluctant Beginning That Shaped Worapon Long Before The Inner Circle 28
Long before becoming a breakout star of ONE Championship’s weekly series, Worapon Lukjaoporongtom wanted nothing to do with Muay Thai.
Growing up in Buriram, his father enrolled him in training at just 6 years old, but the boy’s heart was elsewhere entirely.
“I started really young, around kindergarten, when I was about 6 years old. But, honestly, I didn’t even like Muay Thai,” he recalled. “My dad was a huge fight fan, while I preferred playing football.”
Everything changed at 7, when Worapon signed up for a bout at a local temple festival with zero formal training.
“There was a local temple festival in our village, and I always saw them training and holding fights, so I wanted to give it a try. I just went up there throwing wild punches like any kid would,” he said. “Surprisingly, I won that first fight and earned about 150 Thai Baht, which I used to buy a remote-controlled car I’d been eyeing. Earning my own money as a kid without having to ask my parents made me fall in love with it, and I wanted to keep fighting.”
That spark carried him through years of temple festival bouts and regional circuits before his father made a defining decision, pulling him from a demanding boarding school schedule so he could train full-time by age 9 or 10. Somewhere in that stretch, Worapon also found a hero in reigning ONE Flyweight Kickboxing World Champion Superlek.
“He has always been my idol. I admire everything about his game…his strike variation, speed, roundhouse kicks, and mid-fight tactical adjustments,” Worapon said. “I try to integrate elements of his style into my own game, particularly his kicks and knees.”
The road eventually carried him to Bangkok’s biggest stages, but it was far from a straight line. A rough patch, including three straight scorecard losses, coincided with the toughest chapter of his life away from the ring.
“My morale took a heavy hit during that time because I lost my younger sibling,” he said. “I had to battle through a lot internally, fighting my own mindset while dealing with personal factors that deeply affected my mental state.”
Now riding a three-fight winning streak into The Inner Circle 28 against Lenny Blasi this Friday, August 28, every one of those chapters travels with Worapon into the biggest fight of his career.
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