Martin Nguyen On Koyomi Matsushima Bout: Fans Can Expect Fireworks

We’re less than two weeks away from ONE: Dawn Of Heroes. In the main event of the stacked card, Martin Nguyen will return to the Philippines again, to defend his ONE featherweight title against Koyomi Matsushima.

Ahead of his third title defence, the former two division champion told ONE Championship that he’s hungrier than ever.

“First and foremost, congratulations to Matsushima for earning his shot. I think he is a great fighter who has proved himself with the best.

“Having some time off [with the injury] made me reflect and it made me hungrier. It also motivated me to push myself beyond setbacks and come back with a victory [over Jadambaa].

“I have been given the right amount of time to prepare for Matsushima and I have all faith in my coaches and training partners to get me over the line.”

The title bout will be Matsushima’s third time competing in ONE Championship, having won his first two outings in the promotion. The 26 year old scored a first round TKO win over the former champion Marat Gafurov, in his ONE debut last September and then followed that up with a convincing unanimous decision win over Kwon Won Il, last month at ONE: Legendary Quest. And both performances impressed the champion.

“His performance against Gafurov was expected as Gafurov was clearly getting frustrated and rushing in carelessly like he did with me.

“The performance against Kwon Won Il was a surprise to me as I thought Kwon had better defence to counter Matsushima’s wrestling, but Koyomi dominated and earned himself a shot with me.”

Although Nguyen sees similarities in their styles, the Vietnamese Australian believes he will be able to implement his game plan and get the stoppage.

“He has really good wrestling. His striking is decent as well, but it is very reckless.

“Both our styles are very similar. We have great movement and power to counter, so come fight night, the fans should be expecting a great tactical battle full of fireworks and action.

“Every fighter has their strengths and weaknesses but that is up to me on fight night to find out, capitalise on my game plan, and take Matsushima out – keep it simple!” 

And fans shouldn’t have to wait too long after this title bout, before they see Nguyen compete again, as the 30 year old says he wants to fight at least one more time this year.

“Knowing that I am now injury-free, I want to try and push out at least one more fight after this one to end the year on a high.”

ONE: Dawn Of Heroes goes down on August 2nd at The Mall Of Asia Arena, in Manila, Philippines.



Listen to ONE lightweight champion Christian Lee prediction for the Martin Nguyen vs Koyomi Matsushima title bout:


See also:


Tagged: , , , , ,

Leave comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.