Martin Nguyen gives date on his possible return to the Circle

Former two-division ONE world champion Martin Nguyen is aiming for a return to the Circle this fall.

‘The Situ-Asian’ has had a rough go of it as of late, dropping three of his last five bouts, all losses by way of knockout. Nguyen appeared to get back on the right track in his last outing, scoring a unanimous decision win over Leonardo Casotti at ONE Fight Night 7 on Prime Video. Since then, the No. 3 ranked featherweight contender has decided to take some much-needed time off with his family before plotting a return later this year.

“Hopefully, fingers crossed, October and we’ll get the featherweight division going,” Nguyen told the South China Morning Post when asked about a potential return date.

Debuting for ONE Championship in 2014, Martin Nguyen won seven of his first eight contests, including victories over former and/or reigning ONE world champions, including Marat Gafurov, Christian Lee, and Eduard Folayang. Since that impressive run, ‘The Situ-Asian’ has gone 5-5, but his losses have come against some of the best fighters in the game.

Given his recent struggles with finding the win column, many fans and fighters suggested it was time for Martin Nguyen to hang up his gloves for good. But Nguyen had a message for anybody trying to look past him, including his last opponent, Leonardo Casotti.

“Yeah, look, to be honest man you can call me old, you can say that I’m done but if you got that in your mind I say not only are you naïve I’mma step it up and put you in your place. So, at the end of the day, that was pure experience, and I just had to do what I had to do to get the win.”