“I’m excited to be that fresh blood” - Ilya Freymanov looks to make statement against Martin Nguyen

ONE Championship will welcome a new potential challenger into their featherweight division in Ilya Freymanov. Making his ONE debut as part of the absolutely stacked ONE on Prime Video 2 card at the end of September, the Russian knockout artist will face one of the promotion’s most successful former world champions, Martin Nguyen.

The former two-division titleholder currently holds the No.3 spot in the featherweight rankings. That could change on September 30 against Ilya Freymanov, who holds an impressive record of 10-1 with eight victories via knockout.

Speaking about his opportunity to jump right into the mix at featherweight, Ilya Freymanov told ONE Championship that he is excited about the opportunity to establish himself right away and get close to a potential world title shot against newly crowned featherweight king Tang Kai:

“I’m not surprised [I got a ranked fighter in my debut]. I believe that the top three, if not all five, have already fought each other, and they need some fresh blood. I’m excited to be that fresh blood, and fighting No.3 is a great chance to get closer to a title fight.”

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For Martin Nguyen, a win over Ilya Freymanov will get him one step closer to a title shot against Tang Kai

At ONE 160, a new ONE featherweight world champion was crowned as Tang Kai defeated Thanh Le in dominant fashion over the course of 25-minutes. Now with a target on his back, Tang is awaiting his first potential challenger.

Martin Nguyen could get himself a little bit closer to a title opportunity should he come out on top against the Russian debutant at ONE on Prime Video 2. As for his game plan against Tang Kai in a potential meeting, ‘The Situ-Asian’ told ONE Championship that he would have patience and put pressure on the Chinese world champion.

“How would I fight against [Tang]? How I said Thanh Le should have fought. I’ll be a bit more patient. I’ll put the pressure on him for sure. If he wants to come forward, then I’ll tag him with my shots. But yeah, I’m a pressure type of fighter. I like to come forward. I like to bang, and sometimes, that might work against my favor.”