Seo's redemption

Seo Doo-won

From school bully to combat sports icon

By Jung Min-ho

A defiant high school boy thought he had nothing to lose; so he had no fear. His teenage years were tainted by numerous fights and two expulsions from school.

Veteran Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter Seo Doo-won, now 31, said he had no dreams until he found one in the ring in his mid-20s.

“Then I realized that I actually had everything to lose,” Seo said in an interview with The Korea Times.

Nowadays he is busy telling high school students violence and bullying will cost not just their school memories ― it could destroy their future.

“The further you go away from the right path, the harder it becomes for you to come back to where you were,” Seo said.

“For example, when I decided to become an MMA athlete, I had to quit smoking, which I had indulged in since the first year of middle school. It was painful. I’m not just talking about cigarettes. The pain for my return could have been much worse.”

Last month, Seo was appointed as an honorary ambassador of school violence prevention by Gimpo Police Station, and he has shared his experience of living as a “troublemaker” with students since. So far, students from about 10 schools in Seoul have attended his lectures.

“I don’t think I am in a position to teach them; I just talk with them, not as a teacher but as a big brother who knows a little more about the price of violence,” Seo said.

He got into at least over “50 fights” during his high school years and was hospitalized a number of times. Deep scars on his forehead still indicate the rough path he once walked.

Before he was old enough to learn how to drive, he learned how to write up a statement at a police station. Although he had “no regrets” about his past after paying the price of what he did, Seo is glad that time has passed.

He said he does not tell students “don’t fight,” or “keep your temper all the time.”

“Fights can happen. I tell them to be responsible for their actions and to avoid fights they will be ashamed of when they look back at it later,” Seo said. “That being said, bullying the weak is the worst of all.”

Seo said such problems are not students’ own fault, noting teachers as well as Korea’s score-obsessed education system are also responsible for the students’ defiance.

“It is not a secret that middle and high schools exist just for those who are smart enough to go to college,” he said. “Most teachers did not care for students like me. And they still don’t. I know this because my 20-year-old little brother had gotten the same treatment until recently.”

Seo was expelled from Sindongsin Information Industry High School after a bloody group fight at a pub. At that time, he thought he would never graduate from the school, let alone a college.

“But one teacher took me under his wing and said he believed in me,” he said. “Then, my life started to change.”

“Teachers both neglected and encouraged me. That is the message that I want to give to teachers who may be struggling with troublemakers in school.”

Finding passion in MMA was another life-changing moment.

“I started learning about patience. At first, I just wanted to be strong; so, I worked hard to catch up with the level of those who had practiced MMA longer than me. Then, people started looking at me differently,” Seo said. “That was the first time for me to feel such great respect from people. Then, I could not stop.”

Seo said he would continue to work hard to set a good example for students as well as for the emerging combat sport.

“I’m doing this also for myself. Maybe I still want to prove that winning first place is not always necessary to succeed as a fighter,” he said.