Hero Of The Week: Martin Nguyen – ONE Championship’s First Ever Champ-Champ
Today marks the first anniversary of Conor McGregor becoming the UFC’s first ever simultaneous two weight world champion, but this past Friday, a 28-year-old Australian fighter called Martin Nguyen achieved the very same feat in ONE Championship.
Nguyen (10-1) took on Eduard Folayang in the main event of ONE: Legends of the World in the Philippines and he walked into the bout the ONE Featherweight champion after winning the title back in August. Nguyen won the 145-pounds belt when he handed Russian fighter Marat Gafurov the first loss of his career at ONE: Quest for Greatness.
That night, he finished Gafurov with a devastating right hand and he got retribution for the only loss of his career back in Sept. 2015 when he stepped up to face The Russian on just 48-hours notice.
Martin Nguyen @MartinNguyenKMA ???? (9-1) is the new FW champion , KOs unbeaten Marat Gafurov in R2 #mma #OneFC59 pic.twitter.com/W3PsH3fTjO
— Denis La Funk (@DenisLaFunk_) August 25, 2017
This past Friday, Nguyen made it two highlight reel knockouts in a row when he landed the same devastating right hand on the chin on Folayang to shock the world and win the ONE lightweight world title.
Impossible is nothing for “The Situ-Asian” as he creates monum…
Impossible is nothing for “The Situ-Asian” as he makes monumental ONE history!
Publicerat av ONE Championship den 10 november 2017
It was an incredible finish to what turned out to be a thrilling back and forth fight. Folayang more than played his part, but the night belonged to Nguyen and he made history by becoming ONE’s fight ever simultaneous two weight world champion.
Perhaps more incredible than the knockout itself was Nguyen’s instant reaction. The Australian could’ve understandably revelled in the glory of the greatest moment of his career, but instead, Nguyen demonstrated the behaviour of a true martial artist and he tended to his friend Folayang who lay unconscious on the mat.
It was a beautiful demonstration of sportsmanship and it was a true insight into the man that Nguyen is. With a belt now on each shoulder, don’t rule out the possibility of him chasing a third belt against the ONE bantamweight champion, Bibiano Fernandes.
