“One off the bucket list” – Martin Nguyen excited to fight in Japan for the first time at ONE 165

Former two-division ONE world champion Martin Nguyen is thrilled to have the opportunity to finally compete in Japan.

After more than 10 years and multiple world titles, ‘The Situ-Asian’ will scratch another goal off his MMA bucket list when he heads to Ariake Arena in Tokyo for a high-stakes clash with top-ranked featherweight contender Garry Tonon.

‘The Lion Killer’ goes into the contest looking for his third straight victory, but getting the victory will be much easier said than done when he meets a reinvigorated Martin Nguyen inside the Circle.

Speaking with ONE Championship ahead of his highly anticipated return at ONE 165, Nguyen, who currently sits at the No.3-ranked spot, shared his excitement over finally getting to fight in front of a raucous crowd in Japan. He said:

“So, the two times that I've been to Japan were with Aung La and I got to be in his corner and experienced the whole 'hoo-ha' in Japan,” Nguyen said. “So, that was amazing and I always said to myself, I wanted to [experience a fight here too], coming from the whole martial arts and being respectful and all that.”

Martin Nguyen will achieve a lifelong dream at ONE 165

Throughout his decade-long career in ONE, Martin Nguyen has competed against some of the biggest names in the promotion’s history, including Marat Gafurov, Christian Lee, Eduard Folayang, Bibiano Fernandes, Kevin Belingon, Thanh Le, and Ilya Freymanov, among others.

He’ll add another big name to that list when he takes on Garry Tonon, one of ONE’s most feared submission specialists.

Adding to the intrigue will be ONE Championship’s return to Japan for the first time in almost five years where Nguyen and Tonon will meet in what could be a potential featherweight world title eliminator matchup. Speaking on the bout and the prospect of fighting in Japan, Nguyen said:

“The people over there, you know, I just said it's always been like a lifelong thing of mine, like saying I want to fight in Japan, and now it's actually coming through and, you know, one off the bucket list,” Nguyen added.

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