Today we’d like to introduce you to Austin Liu.
Hi Austin, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
From a young age, I aspired to be like Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, starting my martial arts journey with Taekwondo at age 7. Despite earning a black belt at 12, my hunger for knowledge led me to Boxing, Wrestling, Muay Thai, and Jiu-Jitsu by 18. Succumbing to family pressures, I briefly pursued a mechanical engineering degree but dropped out to pursue MMA full-time at 22.
Facing setbacks in my professional career, a powerful psychedelic experience in July 2022 prompted me to reinvent myself. Embracing an entrepreneurial mindset, I tapped into skills like coaching, videography, video editing, and stunt work. A month later, I delved into the entertainment industry, booking my first stunt jobs and finding a newfound passion.
In early 2023, fate brought me to my stunt mentor, Steven Ho, a decorated stunt coordinator with a ton of experience in the stunt acting industry as well, and we bonded over our admiration for Bruce Lee. This connection led to exciting opportunities, including showcasing my skills on TV shows and music videos. I’ve also collaborated with Superare, an LA-based boxing brand, serving as a sponsored athlete and content creator. A significant moment occurred when I met Shannon Lee and became involved with the impactful work of the Bruce Lee Foundation, completing a fulfilling, full-circle journey.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No, my journey has been far from a smooth road. I have gone through struggles financially, mentally, physically, and spiritually on my journey. From dropping out of college at 20 and not having a clear plan for how I was going to make things happen to being ridiculed by my own family for not pursuing a respectable career.
At 21 years old, I had my daughter and was scared that I would finally have to give up all my dreams and get a dream to support my family. I realized that this could either crush me or motivate me to go even harder. I sought out training at one of the highest-level MMA gyms in California, Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, coached by UFC Hall of Famer Uriah Faber. I would make just enough money to get by driving Uber in between practices or trading options on my phone in the mornings before practice.
I lived in Sacramento for several months at a time to prepare for upcoming fights. I lived in basically a 2 bedroom trap house with up to 7 other fighters from around the world. We would train 2-3 times a day, and being the small fish in a big pond now, I was getting beat up daily, but I had to find the drive to continue just showing up to practice and focusing on my individual improvement.
Losing fights weighs on your spirit and mental health. Every single fight I lost I had to mentally and spiritually rebuild myself. Every time I fell, I learned to stand up and keep moving forward. After losing a fight in February 2020, the pandemic happened, and I was stuck in my house just replaying one of my most embarrassing performances in a fight ever. I didn’t have the opportunity to train or even accept another fight because of the lockdowns. I fell into a dark cycle as I was abusing substances daily, binge eating, and staying up all night, but I would punish myself with insane cardio workouts upon waking up the next day.
After choosing to focus more of my efforts on content creation and the entertainment industry, my biggest fear at first was how people would perceive me. I quickly got over this fear, though, as I had gone through much harder things in my past.
Honestly, the hardest thing when chasing your dreams is making sure you’ll have enough money to pay the bills. I’ve done everything to make money, from personal training, trading crypto/NFTs, DoorDash, reselling, videography/editing, and UGC.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Currently, I do a lot of different things. When people ask what I do, I tell them I am a professional fighter, content creator, personal trainer/coach, and content creator. I specialize in making educational martial arts content as well as uplifting and motivational content on my social media pages. I love my content to inspire people to become the best version of themselves and to put work into themselves that they can be proud of.
In terms of fighting, I am known for my creative and dynamic striking style. I’m always advancing forward and pushing the action. My personality definitely is expressed in my style in the way that I love to be unpredictable and throw caution to the wind instead of taking safe routes to victory. When you come to one of my fights, I want you to be entertained and experience controlled, beautiful chaos. In my fighting career, I am most proud of the fights/cards I’ve had the pleasure of being a part of and some of the tough up-and-coming competitions I had the honor of sharing the cage with.
In the stunt industry, I guess I would say I bring my knowledge of real fighting to my stunt acting. I can help to choreograph realistic fight scenes because I know how real fights tend to play out depending on the variables in play.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
My mother has played a huge role in supporting me and helping me get to where I am. Being a single mother raising two boys is a feat that not many mothers can come out unscathed. Growing up, my mom never had qualms about paying for a wrestling camp, signing me up for a membership at a local MMA gym, or even just telling me that she believed I could do things if I really set my mind to it. She has never missed a single one of my martial arts competitions, whether it was a wrestling tournament, Taekwondo tournament, or MMA fight (even though she admits they are tough to watch).
I also have to thank every single one of my coaches I’ve had the pleasure of working with along my martial arts journey. Most notably the ones who played a powerful male figure in my life when I was going through the struggles of being a new kid in a new city and going through all the struggles of adolescence… I have to give credit to my Taekwondo coach, Derrik Carter, and my first Muay Thai coaches, Hieu Ngo and Bruce Lee (yes, that was actually his name). Also, my first MMA coach, Jasper Tayaba, really made me feel like his prodigy when I was first starting off on my competitive MMA journey.
Of course, I have to thank Steven Ho for introducing me to this industry and continuing to teach me not only how to stunt act but how to conduct myself and be successful at everything else that comes with this industry.
Last but not least, I must thank my longtime girlfriend, who has held things down for me and been through the mud with me, serving as my nutritionist, chef, and videographer, and just doing well at being the peace in my chaotic life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.backstage.com/u/austin-liu/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liudynasty/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/austin.liu.754?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/LiuDynastyMMA
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuAFolR2Az3oLtA1EtPT1Og
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@liudynasty
Image Credits
Scott Hirano
David Fernandez
Brandon Liu
Sergio Gonzalez
