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ONE Championship re-posted the fight-ending sequence of Martin Nguyen’s impressive knockout win against Marat Gafurov.
In September 2015, Nguyen was matched up against Gafurov at ONE: Odyssey of Champions after winning his promotional debut. At the time, ‘Cobra’ held a 2-0 record under the ONE banner and hoped to continue building momentum by taking out the Vietnamese-Australian contender.
Gafurov submitted ‘The Situ-Asian’ in 41 seconds to become the ONE interim featherweight MMA world champion, which he later traded in for the undisputed throne. Little did they know, the two top-tier featherweights would meet for a rematch two years later.
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In August 2017, Nguyen and Gafurov met for a rematch in the main event of ONE: Quest For Greatness. This time, ‘The Situ-Asian’ wouldn’t be denied, leading to a second-round knockout win to become the ONE featherweight MMA king.
Over six years later, ONE paid tribute to Nguyen’s revenge-seeking win by sharing the fight-ending sequence on Instagram with the following caption:
“FIERY Comeback 🔥 Martin Nguyen was out for blood in his heated rematch against Marat Gafurov 😤 “The Situ-Asian” takes on Garry Tonon at ONE 165! @martinnguyenmma”
Watch Nguyen knockout out Gafurov in their rematch below:
When is Martin Nguyen fighting next?
Since defeating Marat Gafurov, Martin Nguyen has solidified himself as a ONE Championship legend by becoming a two-division world champion. Unfortunately, Nguyen hit a rough patch between 2020 and 2022, losing three of his four fights in that time.
In February 2023, ‘The Situ-Asian’ silenced the doubters by securing a unanimous decision win against Leonardo Casotti. As a result, the 34-year-old has earned the opportunity to fight in a crucial featherweight MMA contest.
On Sunday, January 28, Nguyen will meet former world title challenger Garry Tonon for an intriguing matchup at ONE 165, which goes down at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.
With a win against Tonon, the former ONE featherweight and lightweight MMA world champion could be matched up against the winner of the undisputed featherweight MMA world title fight between Thanh Le and Tang Kai.
