TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Ex-wrestler Eko vows to go all out as MMA fighter in ‘second chance’ at pro career
The former national wrestling athlete is coming home to Indonesia on Feb. 7 to appear in the ONE Championship mixed martial arts bout in Jakarta.
Change Size
Comeback kid: Eko Roni Saputra (left), poses with his son Leon and wife Nurdila Agusta before training at the Evolve MMA gym in Singapore on Jan.15. The former wrestler has embarked on a second career as a professional mixed martial arts athlete in Singapore, and is scheduled to appear at the ONE Championship bout in Jakarta on Feb. 7. (The Jakarta Post/Courtesy of Muhammad Ramdan)
E
ko Roni Saputra had trained hard on the wrestling mat so he could present medals to his country for 17 years. During his days as a professional wrestling athlete, Eko won gold medals at the 2012 Riau and 2016 West Java National Games (PON), and reached his peak with a silver medal at the 27th Southeast Asian Games in 2013 in Myanmar.
But these sports achievements have led him only to employment as a contractual support staff at the East Kalimantan sports agency, where his main job is to photocopy documents, prepare hot drinks for his superiors and help set up equipment like mics for the weekly flag hoisting ceremony, common at government offices.
“In terms of job security, the situation worries me and my family. But nothing could be done that day to improve the situation. So I just waited while continuing to train,” he told journalists Jan.15 in Singapore.
Eko’s last wrestling stage was the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang, where his bid for gold ended at the quarterfinals. A few days following the event, he received a message on his instagram account, inviting him to join Evolve MMA, a mixed martial arts (MMA) club in Singapore.
The message pinged his radar, which warned him that it could be part of some fraud scheme or an attempt at shaming him. Eko didn’t take it seriously, but he did consult his wife, Nurdila Agusta, a former track-and-field athlete.
“I was totally in the dark at that time. I didn’t even know what MMA stood for,” recalled Eko with a small smile.
Nurdila acted quickly, going online to look for answers, and discovered that the offer appeared to be legitimate.
