The current ONE Championship featherweight champion Martin Nguyen will return to action next month as he headlines stellar card on August 2.
The Sydney based fighter will meet top contender Koyomi Matsuhima on the ONE: Dawn of Heros card scheduled to take place at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines.
Nguyen (12-3 MMA, 9-3 ONE) will look to join close friend Aung La Nsang in defending his title for the third time. In 2017 he became a two-division champion as he claimed the promotions lightweight belt. He then went on to just miss out on three simultaneous titles, losing a bantamweight title fight to Bibiano Fernandes by split-points decision. Late last year, an injury forced him to relinquish the title and returned back to action in April where he stopped Mongolian stand-out Narantungalag Jadambaa. Nguyen now sets his eyes on 26-year-old Matsushima.
The 26-year-old Japanese fighter sports an 11-3 professional record and since signing with One Championship has defeated former champion Marat Gafurov as well as Kwon Won II in his last outing just last month. The Japanese prospect trains out of the highly regarded AACC stable of fighters and unsuccessfully challenged for the Pancrase interim title in April 2018.
Also on the card, Gold Coast fighter, Reece McLaren (12-6 MMA, 5-3 ONE) will look to put March’s first-round tournament exit behind him when he faces Japanese fighter Yuya Wakamatsu (10-4 MMA, 0-2 ONE). Wakamatsu was outclassed in his tournament match-up against former UFC champion Demetrious Johnson.
Demetrious Johnson returns for this card and with former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez also on the card, it’s proving a card not to be missed.
Fight Card:
- Martin Nguyen (c) vs. Koyomi Matsushima – One featherweight title
- Jonathan Haggerty vs. Rodtang Jitmuangnon – Super Series Muay Thai title
- Eduard Folayang vs. Eddie Alvarez
- Demetrious Johnson vs. Tatsumitsu Wada
- Danny Kingad vs. Kairat Akhmetov
- Honorio Banario vs. Timofey Nastyukhin
- Reece McLaren vs. Yuya Wakamatsu
- Leandro Issa vs. Daichi Takenaka
- Ayaka Miura vs. Samara Santos
Martin Nguyen retains One featherweight title with highlight-reel KO in Manila
Two-division champion Martin Nguyen determined to make history
