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RODALBEN, Germany– Butterflies in his stomach, the lights shining through the gymnasium, and the crowd roaring as Senior Airman Jonas Sunga walks to the cage. The leather gloves on his hand as he has one mission, to fight. For many people a cage is somewhere you store animals or beasts but on October 18th, the “cage” or better known as the “octagon” became a second home for Sunga. The eight walls closing him in with his thoughts and on the other side, his opponent. Jonas is not only fighting for sport but for a good cause. The TSR Halle, sports gymnasium in Rodalben, Germany became a martial arts exhibition for over 20 fighters. The spectacle was a showcase of pure talent, hard work and dedication of artists mastering their craft of Mixed Martial Arts, Kickboxing or “K1” and Muay Thai. Sunga became the “Picasso” of his masterful skills in the sport of Mixed Martial Arts where he not only gained the love of the audience, but he competed to raise money for a charity that supports research for cancer and other life-threatening illnesses within the German community. “For me personally, I've had my mom be sick, so it means a lot to me and my great friend, my great coach has lost somebody due to leukemia and for me to participate means a lot that I could have my hand in raising money for something like this,” stated Senior Airman Jonas Sunga, 86th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, Aircraft Electrical and Environmental systems technician. During the day Jonas works diligently at Ramstein Air Base assuring that the U.S. Air Force’s mission is being accomplished and at night he trades his wrenches for gloves, exemplifying the warrior ethos needed in modern military. Some of the key characteristics of the warrior ethos are discipline and accountability, resilience and grit, and courage and honor. The warrior ethos is not something someone is born with, it is something that must be crafted and for Senior Airman Sunga it took literal blood, sweat and tears to earn his spot inside the octagon while embracing the warrior ethos. “Mixed Martial Arts teaches me perseverance. For example, being down one round, I'll come back to the second round with my head held high. In my workplace for example, if I didn't fix the plane and the certain amount of time that I need to, I would come back the next day and the next shift and try my hardest to do so. Not letting the past effect what's going to happen in the present and future,” Sunga said. Leading up to his first bout, Jonas has a team consisting of coaches, trainers and most importantly, his family. Sunga mentions that family plays a big part in his overall mindset and motivation to inspire and become a role model for his younger siblings. His fearless mentality is something he hopes that his siblings can take away when it comes to overcoming obstacles and challenges. “I'm a big brother and being away from home this is one thing I get to show my little brothers and sisters what it means to be a big brother. So, by that, it's literally diving into fear and showing you that courage is what really matters. I mean, the whole thing. Honestly, it’s diving into fear, not knowing what the outcome might be. It's doing something courageous, doing something that you might fail very much. Likely might. But you still go in your best and try to get the job done,” said Sunga. Regarding his future, Senior Airman Sunga hopes to progress in his professional and martial arts career. He mentions that his love and passion for the sport will one day lead to him becoming a coach himself, creating the next generations of fighters. “The end goal is I would love to coach. I would love to be around martial arts. I love martial arts and with that I would love to coach,” said Jonas.
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| Date Taken: | 10.26.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 12.18.2025 07:13 |
| Story ID: | 554533 |
| Location: | RHEINLAND-PFALZ, DE |
| Hometown: | SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 2 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, From wrenches to gloves: 86th AMXS Airman fights his way to success, by SSgt Jan Valle, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
