Another huge featherweight MMA contest has been added to ONE 171: Qatar on Thursday, 20th February.
Fourth-ranked contender Martin Nguyen will collide with #3-ranked star Shamil Gasanov in a contest over a year in the making when ONE Championship takes over Doha’s Lusail Sports Arena for the second time.
As the promotion’s first-ever two-weight MMA World Champion, Nguyen is highly regarded. The Vietnamese-Aussie brawler is renowned for his exquisite striking, and his eight knockouts under the ONE banner prove he can get the job done.
Nguyen stomped through the featherweight MMA division to claim the crown from Marat Gafurov in August 2017. Not content with one belt, he immediately moved up to lightweight and took the crown from Eduard Folayang two months later.
“The Situ-Asian’s” rise in ONE was undoubtedly meteoric, but times have been tough for him since then. For every win, there's been a loss, which has prevented him from getting any proper momentum in the world’s largest martial arts organization.
But enough is enough for Nguyen. The #4-ranked featherweight is out to change his fortune, and the first step in that plan is to topple the soaring Gasanov at ONE 171.
The mighty Russian wrestler will do everything to stop that from happening, though, and his blistering record in ONE suggests Nguyen will be in for a tough time. Gasanov’s tenure had a raucous start when he scored a first-round submission against Kim Jae Woong at ONE on Prime Video 3 in October 2022.
He may have suffered his first professional defeat at the hands of Garry Tonon the following July, but the 29-year-old came storming back, amassing three wins this year against Oh Ho Taek, Aaron Canarte, and, at ONE Fight Night 26 earlier this month, Halil Amir.
Having left his last outing unscathed, Gasanov now gets a crack at Nguyen, who has been on his hit list since he arrived in the promotion. He has made no bones about wanting to take out the former king and believes it's his sure-fire path to a shot at the ONE Featherweight MMA World Title.
With reigning king Tang Kai set to defend the crown against Akbar Abdullaev in January at ONE Fight Night 27, Gasanov could assert his position as the next man in line with another win in February.
But Nguyen is out to prove he still has what it takes to make another run and wear gold around his waist, so there is plenty to play for when the two collide at ONE 171.
