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Martin Nguyen explained why he retired at ONE 171: Qatar.
On Feb. 20, Nguyen fought for the twentieth time under the ONE Championship banner, which would ultimately be his last.
The former two-division MMA world champion struggled to overcome Shamil Gasanov's grappling attack, leading to the latter winning by unanimous decision.
Shortly after the result was announced, Nguyen removed his gloves and revealed he was officially retiring from professional MMA.
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Nguyen later did a post-fight interview backstage with Nick Atkin of The Bangkok Post and had this to say about his decision to retire:
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"Obviously, it’s been on my mind. Obviously, I know I can still offer a lot more, but I’d rather offer my body to the future, to the younger generation coming up. I’d rather give all my time to them and see them succeed and that’s more rewarding than me succeeding to a certain pinnacle and then calling it quits."
Martin Nguyen wasn't the only fighter to retire at ONE 171: Qatar.
Earlier in the night, former ONE bantamweight MMA world champion Bibiano Fernandes officially announced his retirement following a split decision win against Kevin Belingon.
The replay of ONE 171, including the retirement speeches from Nguyen and Fernandes, can be seen for free via the promotion's YouTube channel.
Watch Nguyen's entire post-fight interview with The Bangkok Post below:
Martin Nguyen's legacy in ONE Championship
Martin Nguyen made his ONE Championship debut in November 2014. He started his promotional tenure with a second-round submission win against Rocky Batolbatol and a 41-second submission loss against Marat Gafurov.
Following his first loss in ONE, Nguyen rattled off a legendary run of six consecutive finishes, including wins against Christian Lee, Li Kai Wen, Marat Gafurov and Eduard Folayang.
Nguyen later secured a second win against current two-division MMA world champion Christian Lee, making him the only fighter to do so.
Similar to Bibiano Fernandes, Nguyen's legacy will be a pioneer in the ONE Championship MMA divisions. 'The Situ-Asian' also solidified himself as arguably the greatest featherweight MMA fighter in promotional history.
The former two-division MMA world champion officially retired with a promotional record of 12-8, including ten wins inside the distance.
