18th August 2017. A date written in history, the day that Martin Nguyen became the first Vietnamese World Champion.

BECOMING WORLD CHAMPION

Some 40 seconds into round 1, Nguyen found himself in a familiar position. 2 years earlier, he had fought Marat Garufov and was submitted 40 seconds into round 1 via rear-naked choke, taking his first loss.

This time, however, it wasn’t to be for Garufov, Nguyen showed the spirit of a warrior, finding himself in the very same rear-naked choke Nguyen refused to quit. Fighting to his feet and taking some heavy shots, he saw out the first round.

At 1:27 of round 2, Nguyen countered a kick by Garufov with a huge overhand right, dropping his opponent before finishing him on the floor. He had done it. Nguyen had become the first Vietnamese World Champion, a moment he wished he could have shared with his father, the person he said was the inspiration behind the camp, who unfortunately passed away prior.

Becoming World Champion

Beginning of a Legacy

Born and raised in Sydney, Australia, where Nguyen says his parents had worked so hard to move to from Vietnam. Nguyen was a promising rugby league player before finishing due to injuries.

Rugby’s loss was MMA’s gain. After completing such a historic achievement, many could have forgiven Nguyen if he chose to play safe, but that wasn’t in Nguyen’s mind. Instead, he moved from featherweight to lightweight and challenged the far bigger opponent in Eduard Foloyang.

Two Division Champion

First-ever 2 Division One Champion

In a first-round that the champion, Folayang, appeared to have edged, Nguyen had identified a weakness. Foloyang had repeatedly attempted the same spinning back kick.

At 2:20 of the 2nd round, Foloyang attempted the same kick. This time, Nguyen stepped in, landing a huge hand grenade of a right hand, dropping and finishing his opponent, Nguyen did it. He had gone up a weight class, and become ONE Championship’s first two-division World Champion.

Since defeating Folayang, Nguyen vacated the Lightweight championship, to cement his legacy as the greatest featherweight in ONE history. Currently, Nguyen goes into 2020 on a two-fight win streak and a record of 13-3-0. What is next for this legend in the making?

On February 14th, 2020, Vietnam was granted permission to legalise MMA in their country. Perhaps the most fitting scenario of 2020 would see Martin Nguyen headline Vietnam’s first-ever MMA event, as quite possibly ONE Championships greatest ever Featherweight World Champion.

Follow me on Twitter at @JamesRees83 and follow us @OT_Heroics for more great content!

Also, be sure to check out the Overtime Heroics Forums page to join in on the discussion!

Check out our partners at Repp Sports! They offer the first-ever crowd-sourced, no carb, no sugar, energy drink called RAZE and much more! Use the link above or add the promo code OTH1 for 30% off at checkout!