UFC flyweight Ben Nguyen has been flying under the radar coming into his fight at UFC 221 on Saturday night in Perth, Australia.

Nguyen joined the UFC in 2015, debuting against Alp Ozkilic in May of that year. Before making his UFC debut, Nguyen actually went viral on social media for his knockout of Julian Wallace at Nitro MMA 11 two years earlier, inspiring the video titled "Tattooed bully acts cocky and gets knocked out by Ben Nguyen in 20 seconds."

The knockout went viral due to Wallace’s intimidation tactics at the weigh-ins, followed by Nguyen knocking him out cold 25 seconds into their bout.

“I get people coming up to me to talk about it, 'Hey, you're the guy who knocked out that tattooed guy,' Nguyen told FloCombat. "It's pretty cool. It's a good thing to be remembered by.”





Flash forward five years, and you’ll find Nguyen competing at the highest level of the sport.

Coming off of a big submission victory over Tim Elliott UFC Fight Night 110, Nguyen finds himself ranked eighth in the world at flyweight.

“I think I performed the best I'd performed in my career, up until that moment,” Nguyen said. “I was really nervous for that fight and I didn't know how things were going to play out. Tim is a bit of a wild card and you don't know what to expect, but I made it look easy. I don't know how I did it, but I did it.”

A few months later, Nguyen is now taking on Jussier Formiga at UFC 221, a fight that will truly determine where he belongs in the flyweight division.

“I feel like the fight is going to be an important one — he's ranked No. 4 in the world right now,” Nguyen said. “It could definitely be a title-contendership fight. I feel like it's a good matchup for us. He's dangerous on the ground, like every fighter I've fought in the UFC.”

A black belt in Judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Formiga represents a stiff test for anyone — especially those not ready for his ground game.

“I feel like we have really focused and worked on defenses against his strengths — rear-naked chokes, submissions, back-taking positions," Nguyen said. "It's not like Tim where we didn't know what to work on.

"Here, we knew exactly what we needed to work on — defending my back and neck. Once we're able to shut that down, anything is possible.”

The fight has quite a few implications for the title as well. With current champion and all-time great Demetrious Johnson out of clear challengers, Nguyen could find himself next in line.

“I believe it will get me closer to [a title shot],” Nguyen said. “I don't know if it will, but it's always in the back of my head – whether it will or not.”

Despite the importance the fight has on the flyweight division, the contest finds itself on the prelims. Something that Nguyen strongly disagrees with.

“I think it's crazy that they put me on the prelims," he said.

Prelims or main card, Nguyen still has a job to do — and the former Nitro MMA champion believes he’ll score the finish at home.

“First-round submission or first-round knockout," he predicted.

By Lucas Grandsire