ONE Championship: Martin Nguyen says ‘you know who I’m fighting’ as training camp gathers pace
- ONE featherweight champ steps up fight camp at Sanford MMA after flying into Florida from Sydney, Australia
- Nguyen stops short of confirming Thanh Le as opponent before official announcement, but says ‘it’s already out there, it’s just a matter of when’
So after “The Situ-Asian” flew out from Sydney, Australia to Florida soon after to begin a training camp at Sanford MMA, it was easy to put the pieces together. But the 31-year-old Nguyen (13-3) is still keeping as tight-lipped as possible.
“We’re not allowed to say it until ONE Championship announces the fight, but you know who I’m fighting, man,” he told SCMP MMA. “It’s already out there, it’s just a matter of when. We’ll wait until Chatri says something.”
“I‘ve got the same hit list, man,” Nguyen added. “I’m here to fight anyone they put in front of me. It’s not a ‘no’ coming from my end, that’s the main thing they gotta know – once the fight is offered, I’m never turning it down. If it’s within the featherweight division, I’m signing on that dotted line.”
Nguyen is, as usual during fight camp, living in teammate Aung La N Sang’s house about half an hour’s drive from their Deerfield Beach gym, along with the ONE middleweight and light heavyweight champ’s fellow Burmese Tial “The Dragon Leg” Thang (2-0).
“He does look after us, man, he’s our big brother, so it’s good to be back here,” Nguyen said. “It’s all good vibes, all positive vibes. We’re all here for a purpose – it’s basically a fight for our families, so here we are.”
ONE: Aung La warns De Ridder ‘I’m a different animal’
Nguyen will be hoping it is third time lucky after his last two training camps frustratingly concluded without a fight.
“The first fight was meant to be against [ONE lightweight champ] Christian Lee back in November, and the second fight was meant to be with Thanh Le. Yeah, it was unfortunate. Out of my control, but nothing bad,” he said.
“I don’t try to stress over things I can’t control. I did get better and that’s the positive out of it, and now I’m here for the third camp, so we’re just continuing on.”
Nguyen’s scheduled May bout against the 35-year old Vietnamese American Le (11-2) was scrapped because of the global coronavirus pandemic, which has put ONE’s operations largely on hold since February.
“It was good, it was much needed,” Nguyen said of his unexpected break. “I didn’t stop training but it wasn’t the same intensity, wasn’t as tough as it is here. So in a way my body could heal up all the niggling injuries that I had and I’m back to 100 per cent. The camp’s only two weeks strong now, realistically a week, but it’s coming along real well.”
Nguyen also got a chance to sharpen his skills as part of Alex Volkanovski’s training camp in Australia for the UFC featherweight champ’s rematch against Max Holloway at UFC 251 on Fight Island in July.
“We had a few training sessions together,” he said. “Alex is a very nice guy, a very hard worker, his work ethic speaks for itself. This is why he’s the champ in that organisation. He won’t take no for an answer – whatever his coach says, he does it and goes beyond, so it was a blessing to spend time down at Freestyle Fighting Gym. I got a good understanding of where my skill set stands between us, and it was all positive vibes.
“Not only that, it was good to mix it up with other athletes as well. We had Joshua Culibao, Trent Girdham, all up and coming fighters in Australia. It was good to share some experience and gain same experience. There was no malice in there, not everyone trying to take each others’ heads off. We all pushed each other to the point where we were getting better and better.”
