ONE 165: Garry Tonon vs. Martin Nguyen set for ONE Championship’s return to Japan on January 28

Another huge high stakes matchup is on deck for ONE Championship’s return to Japan with Martin Nguyen taking on Garry Tonon in a pivotal featherweight MMA showdown.

ONE 165 on January 28 at the Ariake Arena is shaping up to be one of the biggest events of 2024, and 'The Home of Martial Arts' is aiming to kick the year off with a bang.

Top five-ranked featherweights will clash when former divisional king Martin Nguyen takes on one of the only top contenders in the division that he hasn’t faced off with before.

Tonon has secured back-to-back wins since suffering the first loss of his MMA career in challenging Thanh Le for the featherweight title back in 2022. The submission specialist is coming off of an incredible kneebar victory over Shamil Gasanov, while his opponent Nguyen got back on track with a win in February over Leonardo Casotti.

This incredible clash of styles joins the likes of the Rodtang Jitmuangnon-Takeru Segawa kickboxing super fight and Sage Northcutt’s return against Shinya Aoki as the announced fights for this massive card.

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Martin Nguyen vs. Garry Tonon could decide the next title challenger at featherweight

There’s no denying that both Martin Nguyen and Garry Tonon are worthy of their status in the featherweight division.

With the champion Tang Kai and interim titleholder Thanh Le set to meet in a rematch sometime in 2024, the winner of this contest could announce themselves as the next in line.

Beating the former champion in Nguyen would be a huge scalp for ‘The Lion Killer’ to add to his record under the ONE Championship banner. On the other side of the coin, taking out a top contender like Tonon would really announce Nguyen as a legitimate threat to the featherweight crown as he chases the title that he previously held.

ONE 165 will air live and free via ONE Championship’s YouTube channel and the ONE Super App.