One Championship: Martin Nguyen open to fresh ‘champ champ’ tilt but wants title defence first
- ‘The Situ-Asian’ wants to ‘defend my legacy’ at featherweight on Singapore card in February
- Nguyen says ‘the option is always there’ for moving back up to lightweight
After two sparkling title defences, it’s been a frustrating end to 2019 for One Championship featherweight king Martin Nguyen.
“The Situ-Asian” underlined his status as a top contender in One’s pound-for-pound conversation with a highlight reel flying knee KO of Narantungalag Jadambaa in April, and an impressive TKO win over Koyomi Matsushima in August.
He was back training at Sanford MMA in Florida for a November fight in Singapore – rumoured to be against One lightweight champion Christian Lee. But that fell apart when Lee was drafted in as a late replacement for the injured Eddie Alvarez in Tokyo.
“I wanted one by the end of the year but I’m happy, I’m grateful we went 6-0 as a family this year,” Nguyen told the Post, after cornering Sanford’s Tial Thang alongside Aung La N Sang in Kuala Lumpur on Friday night. “We all had two bouts each and we finished them all in devastating fashion.
“I wanna come back first quarter, man. Tonight really sparked something inside me. But we’ll see what One Championship offer. You know me, I’ll sign on the line.
