“They have their next opponent ready to go” – Martin Nguyen says winner of Garry Tonon clash destined for shot at featherweight gold

Martin Nguyen is fully aware of the stakes at ONE 165 when he takes on the number one featherweight contender, Garry Tonon.

The former world champion has been on a long road back to title contention that could finally come to an end if he is able to defeat Tonon this weekend in Japan.

From there, the route to a featherweight world title shot is already perfectly lined up for him due to the world championship unification war that goes down at ONE 166.

March 1 in Qatar will see the champion and interim titleholder, Tang Kai and Thanh Le, face off in a rematch to determine the one true ruler of the featherweight division.

The winner of Nguyen vs Tonon will set themselves up perfectly to challenge the winner of that match-up in the summer or potentially later on in the year.

Martin Nguyen spoke about this trajectory during a recent interview with ONE Championship:

“So, I feel that win from either of us gets that title shot once these guys [Tang Kai and Thanh Le] duel it out to solidify who holds the title. You know, Thanh Le and Tang Kai. What is it called, unifying it? I feel that they have their next opponent ready to go.”

Martin Nguyen must get past Garry Tonon before he can think about titles

With high risk comes high reward, and that’s exactly what awaits Martin Nguyen when he takes on ‘The Lion Killer’ at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.

Beating Tonon could potentially throw the No.3-ranked contender into the top spot, but knocking ‘The Lion Killer’ off the peak of the division is a task far easier said than done.

There are potentially huge rewards to reap if he is able to get his hand raised at ONE 165 but getting the job done will be no easy feat.

A win over Tonon wouldn’t just mark him out as the next in line for a shot at featherweight gold, it would be Nguyen’s biggest win in years and a real statement of intent going forward.

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