ONE Championship: Martin Nguyen admits ‘I just need to win’ in high-stakes return at Lights Out
- Vietnamese-Australian Nguyen faces Ukraine’s Kirill Gorobets on Friday in Singapore
- Former featherweight MMA champ will look to rebound from back-to-back KO losses
Martin Nguyen has found himself in an unfamiliar situation.
The former ONE Championship featherweight champion, who once rattled off six consecutive knockout wins in the Asian martial arts promotion’s cage, is riding back-to-back losses for the first time in his career. Both came by way of stoppage.
It’s a place the 33-year-old hoped he would never find himself in, but he’s taking it in his stride.
“Adversity is a part of life,” he said in a pre-fight interview. “You win some, you lose some.”
Nguyen’s recent losses came against Vietnamese-American striker Thanh Le – the man who ended his title reign – and South Korea’s Kim Jae-woong.
The Vietnamese-Australian former champion will have the opportunity to rebound from those losses when he takes on once-beaten Ukrainian newcomer Kirill Gorobets at ONE: Lights Out this Friday in Singapore.
Nguyen (13-5) has not done much tape study on Gorobets (11-1), admitting he has watched “maybe two of his fights at most”, but still sees the debuting 28-year-old as favourable.
“This match-up, I think it’s a perfect match-up for me to come back and make that title run,” Nguyen said.
The ONE featherweight title will be up for grabs in the Lights Out main event, when Le (12-2) defends his belt against undefeated American grappler Garry Tonon (6-0).
Nguyen called both men “very, very dangerous” but admitted that he is not too focused on the outcome of their fight or who leaves Singapore as champion.
“Obviously I’m trying to make another run for the title, but first things first, I’ve got to get through this opponent,” he said.
“My main focus is getting back into the winning column,” Nguyen added. “It’s all about getting the win, regardless of how I finish him or if I finish him. Wherever the fight goes, I just need to win.”
Nguyen captured the ONE featherweight title with a knockout win over Marat Gafurov in 2017. He also briefly reigned as the promotion’s lightweight champion, but ultimately vacated that title.
