“On to battle” - Shamil Gasanov ready to light Qatar up in crucial duel against former champ-champ Martin Nguyen

Shamil Gasanov is more than ready to step into the Circle once more. The Russian submission machine will take on Martin Nguyen in a critical featherweight MMA matchup at the stacked ONE 171: Qatar card on Thursday at Lusail Sports Arena.

Taking to Instagram, Gasanov alluded that he's done everything he could to get himself in the perfect shape ahead of his matchup against the former ONE featherweight and lightweight MMA world champion

Shamil Gasanov posted:

"All the hardest things are behind us ✊🏽Tomorrow, on to battle."

Gasanov and Nguyen are ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, in the featherweight MMA rankings in ONE Championship, and their fight would have massive implications for the division's world title picture.

'Cobra' is on a strong run of form with three straight wins, three in his last four matches, heading into Qatar. He used his terrifying grappling to dominate Oh Ho Taek, Aaron Canarte, and Halil Amir en route to his high-stakes matchup against Nguyen in Qatar.

Nguyen, meanwhile, has had a rough patch going 2-2 in his previous four matches but the Vietnamese-Australian star is never one to be trifled with. The former champ-champ is one of the greatest fighters in ONE Championship history and was the first person in the promotion to hold two world titles, simultaneously.

In August 2017, Nguyen captured the ONE featherweight MMA world title when he knocked out Marat Gafurov in Kuala Lumpur.

Nguyen then reached the hallowed ground when he knocked out Filipino legend Eduard Folayang three months later for the ONE lightweight MMA world title in Manila.

ONE 171 will be streamed live at watch.onefc.com.

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Shamil Gasanov says he and his team didn't prepare anything special for Martin Nguyen

Shamil Gasanov stuck to his usual routine in preparation for Martin Nguyen.

While some fighters will tweak their fight camps to counter their opponents better, Gasanov instead focused solely on his development in his ONE 171 training camp.

Gasanov said in his interview with ONE Championship:

"There's no special secret: my team and I will study Nguyen's strengths and weaknesses to come in at our best. In the first stage in Rostov, we focused on physical preparation, working with weights, and building strength. The second stage has included grappling, sparring, and tactical work."