Martin Nguyen relishes relationship with lifelong friend and ‘brother’ Aung La N Sang

Former two-division world champion Martin Nguyen is grateful to have a lifelong friend and ‘brother’ who has stood by him through all the difficult times.

The last few months for Nguyen have been razor-focused on getting back to world title contention after experiencing a series of stoppage losses in his MMA career.

Many fans and pundits alike doubted his capabilities to make another run for the world title, but fellow teammate and lifelong friend Aung La N Sang stuck around when things got tough.

Describing his relationship to ‘The Burmese Python’ as akin to a bond between brothers, Martin Nguyen told SCMP MMA:

“He’s my brother man till the wheels fall off man. He’s gonna be there and I’m gonna be there for him and whenever we call it man, we can look back together, he’ll be older than me, but we can sit back and have tea and go from there.”

The Vietnamese-Australian standout made headlines last November when he decided to return to training at Kill Cliff FC in South Florida.

He trained with former two-division world champion Aung La N Sang for eight long weeks to prepare him for a difficult featherweight matchup against undefeated Dagestani wrestler Shamil Gasanov at ONE Fight Night 7 on Prime Video.

Even when Gasanov pulled from the card and then Razhab Shaydullaev after him, Nguyen’s pre-game mentality never faltered. Thankfully, Brazilian power-hitter Leonardo Casotti was called in as a replacement on short notice. Drawing strength from solid preparation, ‘The Situ-Asian’ went on to win the bout via unanimous decision.

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Martin Nguyen hopes to one day fight on US soil as he heads to corner for Aung La N Sang in Colorado

Martin Nguyen would like to return the favor to his brother-in-arms Aung La N Sang, when he corners for him at ONE Fight Night 10 on Prime Video.

Former two-division world champion Aung La N Sang is on a collision course to fight Chinese juggernaut Fan Rong following a first-round knockout win over Gilberto Galvao this past January.

Fresh off the win, Aung La is looking forward to getting a shot at the world title soon, but he knows he’s got more business to take care of before that happens.

Despite not being able to be on the card himself, Martin Nguyen is stoked to be cornering for Aung La. He expressed his excitement with The MMA Superfan after being asked if he would like to compete in the US one day as soon as he gets his next opponent.

Here’s what the former double-world champion had to say about that:

“I would love to be on the card but you know it’s already a stacked card. Regardless, I’m going to be there for my brother Aung La and then go from there, figure out my steps from there.”

Watch the full interview below: