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Former two-division ONE world champion Martin Nguyen is riding good momentum after his KO win over Kirill Gorobets back in March. After losing both of his belts and going 2-2 in his four bouts between 2019 and 2021, 'The Situ Asian' came back strong this year.
The heavy-handed Vietnamese-Australian is now on a path to reclaiming gold and has his sights set on the newly-crowned ONE featherweight king, Tang Kai.
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The similarly heavy-handed Tang recently featured a new facet of his game as he methodically dismantled then-world champion Thanh Le at ONE 160. This stick-and-move strategy was a huge departure for Tang, who is best known for his aggressive, marauding style.
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Speaking of styles, Martin Nguyen sees that his way of fighting should work well against Tang. In an interview with ONE Championship, Nguyen said:
“How would I fight against [Tang]? How I said Thanh Le should have fought. I’ll be a bit more patient. I’ll put the pressure on him for sure. If he wants to come forward, then I’ll tag him with my shots. But yeah, I’m a pressure type of fighter. I like to come forward. I like to bang, and sometimes, that might work against my favor.”
Martin Nguyen further explained:
“I heard that he was calling out [ONE Featherweight Kickboxing World Champion] Superbon. But I don’t know man. We’ll see what happens. I’m not in any rush anyway.”
At ONE 160, it was quite a turn that happened in the world title fight between Thanh Le and Tang Kai. Le, best known as a methodical sniper, was seemingly impatient and went forward like an aggressor. Tang, known to be a brutish aggressor, was uncharacteristically patient and methodical.
Martin Nguyen's assessment was correct in the sense that Le may have benefited more if he was just a bit more patient and picked his shots more. Whether or not Nguyen can successfully apply this strategy against Tang if ever they meet is still up in the air, however.
Martin Nguyen will fight in the main card of ONE on Prime Video 2 on September 30
Looking to ride the momentum of his KO win last March, 'The Situ Asian' will return to the Circle for ONE's sophomore event on Amazon Prime Video, ONE on Prime Video 2.
The huge event is top-billed for three world title bouts across three different combat sports. The first world championship fight will be between Mikey 'Darth Rigatoni' Musumeci and Cleber Sousa for the first-ever ONE flyweight submission grappling world championship. The co-main event will feature ONE featherweight kickboxing world champion Superbon Singha Mawynn as he defends his throne against ONE featherweight kickboxing world Grand Prix champion Chingiz Allazov.
The main event is a trilogy fight between two of the most dominant ONE world champions ever. ONE women's atomweight world champion Angela Lee will clash with her archrival, strawweight queen Xiong Jing Nan, for the ONE women’s strawweight belt in a highly-anticipated rubber match.
Meanwhile, Martin Nguyen will face 10-1 KO artist Ilya Freymanov. The fight will be Freymanov's ONE Championship debut and 'The Situ Asian' will be more than eager to welcome the Russian with his fists.
