ONE Championship: ‘The Fighting God’ Kim Jae-woong plans to break Martin Nguyen down, earn title shot
- Summer spent training with Team Alpha Male in California helps sharpen mental side of South Korean’s game going into ONE: Revolution
- ‘I now know I can be one of those world-class fighters,’ says Kim, who faces crucial clash against former two-division champion Nguyen
Kim Jae-woong has insisted the fundamentals of fighting will be the downfall of former two division champion Martin Nguyen.
South Korea’s Kim (11-4) is set to face off against Vietnamese-Australian powerhouse Nguyen (13-4) at ONE Championship: Revolution on September 24 in Singapore. The pair were set to fight in April but Covid safety protocols threw a wrench into those plans at the eleventh hour – twice.
The much-anticipated featherweight bout is finally about to go down – barring any more unforeseen mishaps – and “The Fighting God” has used the extra time to prepare on the mental side of his game, rather than the physical.
“After I trained with Team Alpha Male, I got a lot of confidence in myself because I now know I can be one of those world-class fighters,” Kim told the Post. “And I believe in myself more now. That’s the biggest difference between April and now.”
A summer spent in Sacramento, California has seen Kim take full advantage, hitting the mats with prospects, veterans and legends alike.
“Song Yadong was my main training partner,” Kim said. “He was helping me out with training so much. Guys like Cody Garbrandt … he came to sparring. He would do like four or five consecutive rounds with me just to help me out.
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“And guys like Urijah Faber … he wouldn’t do striking sparring any more. But he would be with me one-on-one and help me out with jiu-jitsu and mix it up with me. All of those guys helped me so much.”
“The Situ-Asian” is no doubt the biggest name Kim has faced in ONE, but the 28-year-old is not getting caught up in the hype, nor will he bow to any pressure to put on a show.
“I think it’s all about the basics,” Kim said. “The basic jab, the basic straight. The basics that you learn from the beginning of your training when you first start. I think that’s what’s going to differentiate between me and Martin Nguyen.
“I always like to say simple beats best. That’s what I’m going to do for this fight. I believe that Martin Nguyen will mix up his wrestling. And also he might want to take me down and keep me down there with his jiu-jitsu.
“But I believe his jiu-jitsu and his wrestling are not going to be enough to keep me down or take me down. I’m planning to break him down slowly with my basic striking.”
Facing a legend of the division also has its rewards, with a potential crack at featherweight champ Thanh Le (12-2) hanging in the balance.
“I can’t be specific but I don’t know what’s going to happen to Thanh Le, what his plans are,” Kim said. “But one thing I heard is the winner of this bout will get the next title shot.
“It might be the next, next title shot if Thanh Le fights guys like Garry Tonon first. The winner of this fight will be getting the title shot. That’s what I heard from ONE.”
