“You’re a youngster” - Shamil Gasanov gets dejected backstage after Martin Nguyen’s retirement at ONE 171 in Qatar

Shamil Gasanov went from celebration to dejection when he found out that he was the one who saw former champ-champ Martin Nguyen into retirement.

The Russian grappling machine secured arguably the biggest win of his career when he scored a unanimous decision win over Nguyen in their featherweight MMA fight at ONE 171: Qatar on Thursday at Lusail Sports Arena.

In a backstage video ONE Championship posted on Instagram, Gasanov was seen trying to make peace with why Nguyen decided to leave the sport of MMA for good.

"You're finished? Brother, you're a youngster, not finished bro. He's a legend, thank you," said Shamil Gasanov as he hugged Nguyen.

Aung La N Sang, a former ONE middleweight and light heavyweight MMA world champion, was also with Nguyen during the interaction and tried to lighten up the mood when he joked with Gasanov.

"But we're older too, bro."

Gasanov is smack in the middle of his prime and is looked at as one of the central figures in the volatile featherweight MMA division.

'The Cobra' holds an impressive 17-1 record in his overall career and 5-1 in his ONE Championship tenure.

His unanimous decision victory over Nguyen was his fourth straight win in ONE Championship.

Nguyen, meanwhile, will leave the sport as one of the most important figures in ONE Championship history.

The Vietnamese-Australian star was the first fighter in the promotion's history to reach champ-champ status when he held the ONE featherweight and lightweight MMA world titles from 2017 to 2018.

Fans can watch replays of ONE 171 on-demand at watch.onefc.com.

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Shamil Gasanov hints at move to lightweight in ONE Championship

Shamil Gasanov has every chance in the world to take a shot at the ONE featherweight MMA world title, but he's also looking for a chance to prove his mettle in a heavier weight class.

In his post-fight interview with commentator Mitch Chilson, Gasanov hinted that he could move to lightweight to face a new wave of fighters in ONE Championship.

Gasanov said:

"Today, [I had] four fights in twelve months, four fights, four wins. This for me was very hard. Now give me one month for rest, then I’m ready for any fight. Maybe 77 kilograms, it doesn’t matter bro."