‘A one trick pony’ - Martin Nguyen admits his grappling will never catch up to Garry Tonon’s legendary BJJ pedigree

Martin Nguyen humbly admitted that no amount of training will get his grappling skills to Garry Tonon’s level.

On Sunday, January 28, ONE Championship will travel to Tokyo, Japan, for a stacked event inside the Ariake Arena. ONE 165 will feature two world title fights as ONE flyweight kickboxing world champion Superlek Kiatmoo9 takes on Takeru Segawa, and ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion Kade Ruotolo meets Tommy Langaker in a rematch.

Meanwhile, the undercard of Sunday’s event will showcase several intriguing matchups, including former two-division world champion Martin Nguyen taking on submission wizard Garry Tonon. Although nothing has been confirmed, the winner could earn a ONE featherweight MMA world title shot.

Nguyen has the striking skills to defeat anyone in the ONE featherweight MMA division. With that said, ‘The Situ-Asian’ will have to tread carefully at ONE 165, as Tonon has the BJJ pedigree to submit any featherweight on the planet.

During an interview with From The Stands, Nguyen had this to say about his upcoming opponent’s grappling skills:

“A one-trick pony, they're very very good at that. So say for instance my opponent Garry Tonon, he's a very very good grappler. No matter how much grappling I do, I'm not going to be able to be compared to him in the grappling scene, you know?”

Watch Nguyen’s entire interview with From The Stands below:

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Martin Nguyen is confident he’s one win away from earning a ONE featherweight MMA title shot

Garry Tonon is the number one-ranked ONE featherweight MMA fighter, while Martin Nguyen is number three. Therefore, the winner at ONE 165 could fight the winner of the undisputed ONE featherweight MMA world title fight between Thanh Le and Tang Kai, which goes down on March 1 at ONE 166: Qatar.

During an interview with Sportskeeda MMA, Nguyen had this to say about potentially earning a title shot later this week:

“I feel that I’m one fight away from earning my title shot. I don’t want to feel that it's given to me because I was the former champ… So I want to solidify myself as a challenger by earning it and taking out whoever is in front of me in the rankings. That next person is Garry Tonon.”

Before focusing on a potential title shot, Martin Nguyen is locked in on his upcoming opponent at ONE 165. In 2023, Garry Tnon bounced back from his devastating 56-second knockout loss against Thanh Le by securing submission wins against Johnny Nunez and Shamil Gasanov.

As for Nguyen, ‘The Situ-Asian’ last fought at ONE Fight Night 7, defeating Leonardo Casotti by unanimous decision.