“It’s all about the actual art” – Martin Nguyen wants to put on a MMA clinic in pivotal showdown with Garry Tonon

When Martin Nguyen returns to the Circle on January 28, he plans on painting the canvas with Garry Tonon’s blood.

ONE Championship returns to Tokyo, Japan for its second event of 2024 as the promotion presents ONE 165. Emanating from Ariake Arena, fight fans will witness a massive flyweight kickboxing title clash as reigning champion Superlek Kiatmoo9 puts his gold on the line against K-1 legend and ONE debutant Takeru Segawa.

But first, a high-stakes featherweight scrap is scheduled to go down as former two-division ONE world champion Martin Nguyen goes toe-to-toe with the division’s top-ranked contender, Garry Tonon.

Speaking with the South China Morning Post ahead of their potential title eliminator, Nguyen likened fighting to art and made it clear that come fight night, he will look to produce his own masterpiece at the expense of ‘The Lion Killer.’

“It's all about the actual art itself and when it comes to fighting we're both going to be in there,” Nguyen said. “It's not like we're going to both go in there you know ‘rock, paper, scissors’ and see who wins.”

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Martin Nguyen determined to get back to his winning ways

With 18 career fights, two title reigns, and an 83% finish rate, Martin Nguyen is without a doubt one of the greatest competitors in ONE Championship history. However, ‘The Situ-Asian’ has struggled to find the win column as of late, dropping three of his last five contests, all by way of knockout.

Nguyen appeared to turn a corner in his last outing, delivering a solid performance against Leonardo Casotti to claim a unanimous decision victory. He’ll look to take that momentum and use it against one of the promotion’s most feared submission specialists in The Land of the Rising Sun.

Who comes out on top in one of the most anticipated featherweight clashes in the division’s history?

ONE 165: Superlek vs. Takeru will be available via global pay-per-view at watch.onefc.com.