“Knock him out nice and early” – Martin Nguyen plans to put Garry Tonon to sleep in key featherweight tilt at ONE 165

Martin Nguyen doesn’t plan to dilly-dally for too long when he faces Garry Tonon at ONE 165 on January 28.

The Australian-Vietnamese athlete is on the hunt for another highlight-reel finish to his impressive slate. And there’s no grander stage for him to achieve that feat than in a crucial featherweight MMA tie inside the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.

After some turmoil in three of his last four outings, a run that saw him lose his ONE featherweight MMA world title to Thanh Le, ‘The Situ-Asian’ returned with a resounding display over Leonardo Casotti.

He plans to better that performance against ‘The Lion Killer,’ who currently sits as the top-ranked contender in the division.

Speaking to Sportskeeda MMA, Martin Nguyen admitted that it’ll be nice to wrap things up quickly against the multi-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion.

The 34-year-old said:

“Of course, a special. I would believe my defense wins this fight. I’d take away his tools and light him up, hopefully, knock him out nice and early.”

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Martin Nguyen has to withstand Tonon’s grappling before finishing him on the feet

Knocking Tonon out would be easier said than done, even for a guy of Martin Nguyen’s caliber.

The Evolve MMA and Team Renzo Gracie star has proved time and time again that he has a myriad of ways to shoot in for a takedown.

That high-level skillset has helped him to seven finishes on the canvas – five coming by submission and another two by TKO.

The only time his decision to take matters into his own hands backfired was when he went up against Thanh Le for the ONE featherweight MMA world title at ONE: Lights Out in March 2022.

Since then, ‘The Lion Killer’ has posted back-to-back wins over Shamil Gasanov and Johnny Nunez to maintain his spot at the pinnacle of the ranked chart.

But where Nguyen comes up short on the mats, he makes up for it via his insane KO power. As such, it’ll be interesting to see how this striker vs grappler showdown unfolds inside the Ariake Arena next week.

ONE 165 airs live on Sunday, January 28, via global pay-per-view on watch.onefc.com.