‘It Made Me The Person That I Am Today’ – Willie Van Rooyen’s Road From South Africa To ONE Championship
Willie “White Lion” van Rooyen’s road to ONE Championship did not begin in a packed arena.
It started in Pretoria, South Africa, in an ordinary neighborhood, with a kid who liked what he saw on television and decided he wanted to try it himself.
In the beginning, there was no grand plan. Just years of showing up.
First to a local kickboxing gym, then to domestic MMA cards, and eventually to championship fights in Africa’s leading promotion. The move to the world’s largest martial arts organization came later, as a natural progression for the 23-year-old stud.
Before Van Rooyen makes his second promotional appearance against Jeremy “The Jaguar” Miado at ONE Fight Night 41 on Prime Video on Friday, March 13, in U.S. primetime, learn how the flyweight juggernaut built his reputation as one of South Africa’s brightest MMA stars.
Roots In Pretoria, Where Everything Began
Van Rooyen does not overcomplicate his origin story.
The “White Lion” was born and raised in Pretoria, and he has kept it as his home base. The city shaped him in many ways, and his upbringing was structured, stable, and centered around family.
Professional fighting was not the family trade. His brothers played rugby and cricket. However, his mother practiced traditional karate during her childhood. His father did some boxing, but no one had built a career in combat sports.
The youngest of three siblings would become the first professional athlete in the family, thanks largely to the support of those around him.
Van Rooyen explained:
“I was born and raised in Pretoria. My whole life I’ve been here. I have my mother, father, and my grandparents as well. I also have two other brothers.
“I’ve never been bullied or anything at all. The support that my family and friends gave me when I started fighting, they always supported me. I always had that support mechanism behind me. It made me the person that I am today.”
The First Spark That Ignited His Journey
Martial arts entered his life through fascination rather than hardship. As a child, he watched professional wrestling, boxing, and MMA on television, absorbing both the spectacle and the structure.
Van Rooyen was often the smallest among his friends, and that reality shaped how he saw combat sports. He admired athletes who overcame physical disadvantages, who relied on timing and intelligence rather than size. The idea of learning how to properly defend himself, and compete regardless of stature, appealed to him.
Unlike many fighters who say they were pushed into combat sports, “White Lion” simply wanted to experience it and eventually told his mother that he wanted to train:
“One afternoon when my mother fetched me from school, I told her, ‘Listen, I want to fight. I want to do a fighting sport.’”
At eight years old, Van Rooyen was not thinking about the global spotlight.
All he was thinking about was training in combat sports and everything that comes along with it, including the movement, coordination, and how to improve. His parents helped him find a nearby kickboxing gym, and that decision proved to be life-changing.
Van Rooyen said:
“When I started kickboxing, I immediately fell in love with the sport. I just enjoyed learning how to use my body in ways it’s never been used before – the technical side of it, like learning how to punch and learning how to kick.”
From Striker To MMA Champion
Kickboxing became the foundation of his fighting identity. The sport sharpened his timing and distance control, traits that carried over when he transitioned into mixed martial arts.
After competing on the domestic kickboxing scene, he made the switch to amateur MMA in February 2022. Over the next 16 months, he collected six wins, four of them by TKO, and his only loss came by a close decision.
In September 2023, Van Rooyen made his professional MMA debut and kicked off his charge toward World Title supremacy.
Competing in EFC, Africa’s premier promotion, he rose through the flyweight ranks and eventually claimed the title with a 37-second knockout in May 2025. Three months later, he defended his belt with a second-round submission victory.
Those performances showcased his well-rounded skill set and marked him as one of the continent’s brightest young names. They also earned him an invitation to the world’s largest martial arts organization.
Still, he understood the scale of the sport:
“I came from EFC, but EFC is a much smaller organization than ONE Championship. To perform on that bigger stage, it was something new to me.”
Entering ONE Championship
Signing with ONE Championship changed the level of competition and margin for error. The roster was deeper. The pace was sharper. Expectations mounted, and the spotlight grew brighter.
Van Rooyen’s promotional debut at ONE Fight Night 37 last November ended in a first-round submission loss, the first defeat of his professional career. Instead of framing it as a setback, however, he treated it as part of the learning process.
The Pretoria native said:
“For me, it was more of a learning curve than a loss. I’d rather lose now than be undefeated and then at a more important fight, like a title fight, have my first loss.”
Though his spotless record is gone, it hasn’t deterred him.
Van Rooyen returned to the A-Team Stars gym and adjusted, continuing his pursuit of becoming the first-ever ONE World Champion from South Africa. The “White Lion” will once again have the chance to display his improvements in front of a U.S. primetime audience on March 13.
He said:
“Now that I fought my first fight, I know what it feels like. I know what skill level the fighters are on. It motivated me and helped me work even harder.
“I want to become the ONE Flyweight MMA World Champion, so I’m really excited to show you guys what [I have in store] for this fight.”
