“I might get him with this knee” - Ilya Freymanov envisioned finish of Martin Nguyen before it happened

ONE Championship newcomer Ilya Freymanov envisioned Martin Nguyen’s finish before it even happened.

The Russian standout burst into the scene with an impressive TKO finish of former featherweight and lightweight world champion Martin ‘The Situ-Asian’ Nguyen on US primetime this past weekend. The performance propelled him to the No.3 contender spot, replacing Nguyen in a blink of an eye, just as he predicted.

During the post-fight interview, he told ONE Championship:

“Back to the matter of my debut, everything happened as I had predicted, down to the first blow I landed, which started the end of this altercation. I [landed] a knee and followed up with a straight right.”

On September 30, Ilya Freymanov put his skills on full display. The confident fighter arrived at ONE Championship with a professional record of 10-1 and an 80% knockout rate. He scored his fourth consecutive victory by defeating ‘The Sitsu-Asian’, who was making his way back to a world title opportunity after finishing Kiril Gorobets at ONE: Lights Out back in March.

Anticipating the Australian-American fighter to lean low to throw a hook or feint a takedown, Ilya Freymanov never doubted that Nguyen would eventually feel his wrath.

He concluded the interview by saying:

“During my fight camp at Tiger Muay Thai, I kept saying that I might get him with this knee – he leans forward a lot in his overhand. I thought, ‘Well, depending on how hard he hits, I might be able to block his overhand.’ Once that happened and I got the hang of it, I concluded that there was no danger.

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Ilya Freymanov joined ONE Championship with a sole purpose

Now that Ilya Freymanov has safely secured his position in the top five rankings, he can’t help but put his fellow contenders on notice as he promises to take home the gold.

In the same interview with ONE Championship, Freymanov said:

“Eventually, I will take this title, and then we will see. Maybe I will go for more weight classes or other disciplines. I’m very hungry and want to stay this way for as long as I am alive. These rivalries, battles, and this way of life makes me happy.”

The next logical match for Freymanov would be a superfight between American-Vietnamese veteran Thanh Le for the No.1 spot or South Korean standout Kim Jae Woon, who sits above him at No.2 in the rankings. Until then, Freymanov will be happy to wait.