Martin Nguyen says Tang Kai played the right game against Thanh Le

Martin Nguyen knows a thing or two about winning world championships. As one of the most successful fighters in the promotion’s history, the former two-division world titleholder is currently on the comeback trail after going through some ups and downs in his career.

Back in October 2020, Nguyen was defeated by Thanh Le for his featherweight world championship in a fight that really started the mixed career trajectory for the former world champ.

Nguyen recently revealed that a rematch with Le is the fight that he gets asked about the most, especially since Le lost the ONE featherweight world title to China’s Tang Kai.

In an interview with SCMP MMA, Martin Nguyen spoke about Tang Kai’s performance against Le, which saw him become China’s first male world champion:

“Tang Kai’s a great fighter. He’s very strategic. The way he fought Thanh Le, you couldn’t put a fault to that. Obviously, a lot of people would want more action, but he came to win. That’s the main thing that every fighter wants to do, coming to win. He done that right.”

Watch the full interview below:

By sticking to a rigid gameplan, Tang Kai was able to shut his opponent down completely and provide a potential game plan for Martin Nguyen if he is able to face Thanh Le again somewhere down the line.

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Martin Nguyen isn’t taking Shamil Gasanov lightly ahead of pivotal bout

Before he can look at potential fights on the horizon with big implications, Martin Nguyen looks to start 2023 with a huge win. At ONE Fight Night 7 on Prime Video, ‘The Situ-Asian’ will step inside the circle to face Shamil Gasanov.

With both men currently sitting next to each other in the top-five featherweight rankings, a loss to the Russian standout could see Nguyen pushed out of world title contention.

Against a difficult opponent, Nguyen will need to recapture some of the form that saw him become a two-division world champion if he is to win on February 24. He had this to say about the matchup:

“I’m buying the hype... He’s a good guy and a good fighter. Obviously 13-0. You can’t fight 13 bums. Good for him. There was once upon a time, another Russian guy that I fought that was undefeated and riding a huge hype as well. So I kind of see it like there’s a lot of similarities there.”

As he points out, Martin Nguyen is no stranger to facing undefeated Russians who look dominant. He was the first man to hand then-15-0 Marat Gafurov his first professional loss and, at ONE Fight Night 7 on Prime Video, he will try to do the same to Gasanov.

Nguyen’s match against Gasanov, and the rest of the ONE Fight Night 7 card, is available live and for free to all Prime Video subscribers in North America.