Martin Nguyen recalls winning his first world title against Marat Gafurov

Former ONE two-division champ Martin Nguyen looks back on his legendary victory over Marat Gafurov, which earned him his first world title.

Nguyen and Gafurov first met back in 2015 when they faced off for the interim featherweight title. 'Cobra' secured the belt that night after locking in a rear-naked choke in the opening round.

'The Situ-Asian' returned two years later to attain undisputed featherweight gold—knocking Gafurov out in the second round to win the first of his two titles.

Martin Nguyen recalled that legendary performance in his ONE Fight Night 7 on Prime Video pre-fight presser. He told reporters:

"The fight against Gafurov, coming off that last loss to him, I went on for five-six [fight] winning streak, did whatever it took to get that rematch, and made sure that it didn't go into the judges' hands. Coming back three times. I did whatever it took to take all his eggs out of his basket until he had nothing left, and he was gassed by round two."

Nguyen would become the promotion's first two-division champion after knocking out Eduard Folayang in his next appearance to gain lightweight gold.

Check out Martin Nguyen's title-winning performance against Gafurov below:

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Martin Nguyen says he doesn't watch his past fights, but draws lessons from them

With well over a dozen fights inside the Circle to his name, Nguyen possesses a plethora of experience competing on the global stage. However, he told ONE that he never rewatches his fights:

“I don't really need to go back and watch it. Everything is photographic memory in my head, every single moment. Every single adversity that I had to overcome. It's all within. So when I know that I need to dig deep, I know it's there. And I know it's in the back pocket.”

The former champ is gearing up for a critical matchup against promotional newcomer Razhab Shaydullaev at ONE Fight Night 7. Nguyen is yearning to get back into title contention at featherweight.

Make sure to tune in to ONE Fight Night 7 on February 24 to watch Martin Nguyen welcome Shaydullaev to the promotion in a pivotal featherweight bout live from the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

The entire event will air live and for free for North American viewers via Prime Video.