“That’s how my name was brought up” – Martin Nguyen on why Garry Tonon has always wanted to fight him

Martin Nguyen is excited to finally test his skills at ONE 165 against an opponent that he has spoken about many times in the past.

Garry Tonon is the number one contender in the featherweight division having produced back-to-back wins to rebound from the first loss of his MMA career.

The submission specialist is a difficult test for anyone but the former two-division ONE world champion believes he has the experience and power needed to stop ‘The Lion Killer’ in his tracks.

This match-up taking place inside the Ariake Arena isn’t just exciting because of the clash of styles and title shot implications hanging over it - this is one fight that fans have wanted to see for a long time.

Martin Nguyen spoke about his history with Tonon during a recent interview with ONE Championship, where he explained why this fight has been spoken about so much in recent years.

‘The Situ-Asian’ offered:

“So, I feel that that's how my name was brought up. I was already at the top and usually when you sign to a company your first question is ‘Who's the champion?’ You know, they don't remember one, two or three. Yeah, number one contender, two, three, four, five, six. They just go straight to the top, like ‘who's the champion’. So yeah, that was his goal, shoot for the sky and you know, go from there.”

Martin Nguyen vs Garry Tonon is happening at the perfect time

After years of talking about this fight, both men will finally step inside the Circle this Sunday at ONE Championship’s return to Japan and Martin Nguyen is ready to put on a show.

Whilst he may not be the same fighter that became the first champ-champ in the history of the promotion, this fight gives him the opportunity to try and reclaim his former belt.

A win for either man will surely see them become the number one contender in the division and with the unification clash between Tang Kai and Thanh Le just around the corner, the timing couldn’t be any better.

ONE 165 airs live from Tokyo, Japan, on Sunday, January 28, via global pay-per-view on watch.onefc.com.