“I take the loss as a man” – Martin Nguyen looks back at his loss to Kim Jae Woong

Martin Nguyen made a name for himself in ONE Championship because of his incredible one-punch knockout power. At ONE: Revolution back in September this year, he found himself on the wrong side of a one-punch knockout. Kim Jae Woong dropped him with a vicious right hook in the first round.

During a recent interview with ONE Championship, Martin Nguyen took responsibility for the loss as he looked back at what went wrong.

“Don’t get me wrong, I have no excuses. I take the loss as a man, but up until I got caught with that one punch, I was winning the fight. It was just a mind lapse of wanting to go for that shot at that very moment. I could have fought smarter and mixed it up a bit more."

'The Situ-Asian' admitted that he may have been a bit overconfident, which perhaps led to his downfall.

"There were options, but I let my ego get ahead of me once again. I landed a few jabs and I felt amazing and I was like, ‘You know what? I can do this.’ And obviously, my opponent had studied me for that long. He just read it, had perfect timing and then caught me.”

The Vietnamese-American stopped short of saying that it was a lucky shot. That's because, more than anyone, he knows how one shot can change everything in a match.

“All it takes in this unforgiving sport is that one punch and I’ve been there. I’ve been on his side of the punches, they do feel amazing at the time as well. So hats off to him, credit to him. I take the loss as a man. I go back, I get back to work and get better.”

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Martin Nguyen’s rollercoaster career ride

During a stretch run from 2015 to 2017, Martin Nguyen looked unstoppable in ONE Championship. After losing to Marat Gafurov in a world title challenge, he rebounded with five straight opponents in the first round.

In 2017, Martin Nguyen finally won the featherweight strap from Gafurov in a rematch for the world title. Later in the year, he won the ONE lightweight world title from Eduard Folayang to become a two-division world champion.

While he failed in his bid to add a world title in a third division, he successfully defended his featherweight world title twice. He also willingly gave up his lightweight title to focus on his natural division.

Unfortunately, Martin Nguyen failed to defend his world title against Thanh Le. His loss to Kim Jae Woong marked the first time he suffered consecutive losses in his career.