MARTIN Nguyen is determined to make history at ONE: Legends of the World. The ONE Championship World Featherweight champion moves up in weight to challenge Filipino World Lightweight champion Eduard Folayang.
Nguyen shocked the MMA world when he knocked out previously unbeaten Marat Gafurov and laid claim to the featherweight crown in the main event of ONE: Quest for Greatness this past August.
Not satisfied with his electrifying upset victory Nguyen is now moving up a weight class and looking to acquire a second world title.
The newly-minted featherweight kingpin is set to challenge Filipino martial arts superstar Eduard “Landslide” Folayang for the ONE Lightweight World Championship in the main event of ONE: Legends of the World, which takes place at the 20,000-seater SM Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines.
Nguyen savors the opportunity to become the first two-division world champion in ONE Championship history.
“I like Eduard [Folayang]. I said to myself I did not want to compete against someone I like and take away their glory, but opportunities like this do not come around too often. And, if I refused to do this, someone else was going to compete against him and take his glory. So it is strictly business,” he said.
According to Nguyen, he considers his highly-anticipated championship clash with Folayang as a dream come true.
“Following my title win, I took a one-month vacation. But in my mind, I really wanted to compete. I was so eager to return to the cage once more before the conclusion of 2017. My wish came true in the form of this dream match against Eduard Folayang,” he said.
After signing the bout agreement for the cross-divisional showdown with Folayang, Nguyen immediately headed back into training camp and will train as usual with KMA Top Team in Sydney, Australia to figure out the puzzle that is the ONE Lightweight World Champion.