“We can’t dodge each other forever” – Martin Nguyen believes it's about time he and Garry Tonon go toe-to-toe

Martin Nguyen is undoubtedly one of the greatest featherweights of his era, and he always felt that he would one day lock horns with another brilliant talent in the current generation.

The former two-division MMA world champion knew he and Garry Tonon were destined to fight each other in ONE Championship, and that meeting will finally take place this Sunday in Tokyo.

Nguyen and Tonon will square off in a pivotal featherweight MMA match at ONE 165: Superlek vs. Takeru on January 28 at Ariake Arena.

In an interview with ONE Championship, Martin Nguyen said a fight against Tonon would be inevitable, especially with both fighters hunting a shot at the ONE featherweight MMA world title.

Nguyen said:

"But it's here now, and you know, we can't dodge each other forever. Not that we were dodging each other but, you know, our paths were going across one time or another. So, it's January 28 in Tokyo. We get to duel it out and see who the better man is and who steps forward in getting that title shot.”

Tonon is the top contender in the unpredictable featherweight MMA division, and the BJJ legend is on a run of two straight submission wins against Johnny Nunez and Shamil Gasanov.

Nguyen, meanwhile, won two of his last three matches and looks to improve his standing as the third-ranked featherweight MMA contender.

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Martin Nguyen believes a win over Garry Tonon pushes him to world title mix

Martin Nguyen once sat at the top of not just one division in ONE Championship, but two highly competitive weight classes.

The Vietnamese-Australian star is the first two-division world champion in ONE Championship and simultaneously held the ONE featherweight and lightweight MMA world titles in 2017.

Although he’s since abdicated the throne, Nguyen is hellbent on reclaiming the featherweight MMA strap.

In the same interview with ONE Championship, ‘The Situ-Asian’ said a win over Tonon could push him back to the ONE featherweight MMA world title mix.

“It wasn't necessarily on my bucket list, it's just the right fight to get me back to title contention. And so that was the reason why Garry's name came up. Other than that, like, if he was ranked behind me, his name wouldn't come up at all.”