When Christian Jungwirth suffered an injury, his dreams of a professional football career were snatched away before his very eyes, but harbouring a fire that simply wouldn’t burn out, ‘The Celt’ refused to fall short of his sporting destiny.
On Saturday evening, the beloved fighter will walk out into a cacophony of noise in front of 15,000 of his adoring fans at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart, Germany, with his focus firmly set on finishing Robert Pukač once and for all.
And to think, had he given up on sport after his footballing career came to a close, his life could’ve taken a completely different path.
Christian Jungwirth discovered MMA after his football career was cruelly taken away
Born with sporting ambition coursing through his veins, Jungwirth quickly gravitated towards the ‘beautiful game’. Blessed with a knack for defying strikers, the goalkeeper quickly caught Stuttgart’s attention and found himself playing in the youth team.
Alas, despite an incredible career ahead of him, the athlete suffered an injury that brought his dreams to a halt and consequently sent him down a path of self-destruction. But rather than letting the negativity consume him, Jungwirth fought back — literally.
In an exclusive interview with Sporf, he explained: “I played with Stuttgart for four years, but I had an injury and had to cancel my footballing career. I started to do bad things in my life, like partying and drugs. At 28, I started boxing for training purposes. At 30, I went to watch some MMA with a friend. We watched the fights, and I asked my friend to tell me what the name of the organisation was. And he said, ‘I’ll see you in the cage’.”
He continued: “I told him ‘I don’t know about MMA’. But the next day, I came home and called the organisation and told them, ‘I’ll fight in three months at the next fight card’. So, I did my first fight without MMA training. It’s an unbelievable story. It’s one in ten million. I live for this sh*t. I live for MMA.
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“I’ve had so many bad things happen in my life, but MMA saved my life. MMA gives me something special. This is my medicine. To have gone from where I came from to where I am now, I’m so happy with my life, for my family.”
Christian Jungwirth is ‘The Celt’
Like the brave warriors that roamed the Earth before him, Junwirth comes from a long lineage of fighters, wearing his Celtic heritage as a badge of honour.
He explained: “I live in a small city, and 2500 years ago, the Celtic people lived here. They had a big mountain. I’m the last living Celt. This is very spiritual for me. When I see movies like Braveheart, I watch this, and I feel it. I’m a real warrior. I’m the last Celt.”
In a sport as demanding as MMA, it takes years for fighters to scale the mountain, with most starting their journey as children. So, for Jungwirth to begin at the age of 30, is not only borderline unfeasible according to the rules of science, but also serves as a testament that if you’re willing to work hard enough, anything is possible.
The sportsman, who considers himself the greatest fighter in German history, has won the hearts of his people. And he aims to pay back their unwavering support with a showstopping performance at Oktagon 55, before heading home to reunite with his doting mother, who will use her cooking skills, honed through years of owning a restaurant, to make him the celebratory meal he deserves.
MMA enthusiasts can watch the fight live on DAZN.
Featured Image Credit: Oktagon MMA / Stuttgart