ONE Championship: Martin Nguyen thinks Shamil Gasanov will ‘underestimate me – I’ll knock him out’
- Former champ looks to begin climb back to belt against undefeated Russian grappler at ONE Fight Night 7 in Bangkok
- ‘He’s going to try to stalk me, and I’ll do what I do best,’ says Nguyen, who ‘would love to fight for title again and get back what’s mine’
Martin Nguyen still hopes to reclaim the ONE Championship featherweight title, but his road back to the belt leads through one of the most imposing contenders in the promotion.
The 33-year-old Vietnamese-American, who ruled over the featherweight division from 2017 to 2020 and also briefly held the lightweight belt, is set to take on undefeated Russian grappler Shamil Gasanov at ONE Fight Night 7 on February 25 in Bangkok, Thailand.
It is a substantial challenge on paper but, amid a hard training camp alongside fellow ONE star Aung La N Sang in the United States, the former champion believes he is equipped to topple it.
“[We’ve been preparing] for the moment my opponent grabs ahold of me, so there’s no panic mode and there’s nothing new” Nguyen told the Post of his training at the Kill Cliff FC facility in Florida.
While Nguyen (14-6-0) is expected to be a disadvantage in terms of the grappling in his coming fight Gasanov (13-0), he will most likely be the sharper, more powerful striker in the cage. He believes that advantage will be his key to victory.
“This is a classic case of a mixed martial artist versus a grappler-wrestler,” he said.
“I think he’s going to underestimate me and try to stalk me, and I’ll do what I do best. I’ll counter his strikes and knock him out.”
ONE: Nguyen returns to training with Aung La in Florida
Nguyen lost the ONE featherweight title with a third-round stoppage loss to Thanh Le in October, 2020. He has gone 1-2 since, sandwiching a TKO win over Kirill Gorobets between knockout losses to Kim Jae-woong and, most recently, Ilya Freymanov.
He recognises that a win over Gasanov, who is still just 1-0 in ONE after a submission win over Kim Jae-woong in his debut, might not be enough to push him back to the title.
While he will need to negotiate a new contract with ONE after his fight with the Russian grappler, he is up for another clash with a fellow contender if he re-signs with the promotion.
“If I had beaten Ilya [in my last fight], I knew for a fact I was going to get that title shot again, but obviously things didn’t go my way,” he said.
“I’m going to take this one fight at a time.”
One option for Nguyen going forward is a fight with American grappling specialist Garry Tonon.
Tonon called the former champion out after a quick submission win over Johnny Nunez at ONE Fight Night 6 earlier this month, and it sounds as though his request could be obliged.
“We’ve got the recent call-out from Garry Tonon,” Nguyen said, acknowledging his rival. “There’s a lot of potential fights in the featherweight division.”
Nguyen is also interested in a rematch with Le. Their first fight stood out as one of the best fights of 2020, even though it did not go his way.
Le is no longer the champion, but Nguyen says he is still asked about a sequel with his former foil often.
“Since Thanh lost the title, 50 per cent of my direct messages are ‘when are you going to fight Thanh Le again, when are you going to fight Thanh Le again’,” he said.
It is a fight he is open to, but the end goal remains the title, which is now the property of China’s Tang Kai, who defeated Le by decision last summer.
“Tang Kai’s a great fighter,” Nguyen said, sizing up the champion. “He was very strategic in the way he fought Thanh Le. A lot of people would want more action but he came to win.
“I would love to fight for the title again and hopefully get back what’s mine.”
The first priority for Nguyen, of course, is getting back on track after his knockout loss to Ilya Freymanov.
The pressure is on – and the opponent is extremely dangerous – but the former champion is keeping his cool.
“There’s no pressure on my side,” he said. “Obviously the momentum is swinging on his side, but I don’t really care. As long as I mentally and physically prepare well, it’s all good.”
