Martin Nguyen often has to spend extended time away from his family, but he knows in his heart that it is a necessary sacrifice. “The Situ-Asian” is making his return to ONE Championship action this Sunday, January 28, when he takes on #1-ranked Garry Tonon.

The two will face one another in a featherweight MMA clash at ONE 165: Superlek vs. Takeru inside the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan. Nguyen is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Leonardo Casotti at ONE Fight Night 7 in February 2023 and is looking to score back-to-back wins for the first time since 2019. 

Martin Nguyen has not held back while training

Knowing the challenge in front of him, he spent most of the holidays training halfway across the world. In an interview with ONE, the former two-division World Champion shared what kept him going while separated from his wife and kids during a time when they should be together. 

“They’re always my why, regardless of being in camp or without camp or whatever. They’re always the reason why I do everything,” Nguyen said. Family is always in the Vietnamese-Australian’s mind. But, for now, he is focused on the task at hand. 

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He will have a tough opponent in Tonon, who is looking for his third straight victory after absorbing his first professional MMA loss in his failed World Title challenge against then-titleholder Thanh Le at ONE: Lights Out in March 2022. 

All but one of “The Lion Killer’s” nine wins in ONE Championship have been by way of submission, including in his last fight against current #3-ranked Shamil Gasanov at ONE Fight Night 12 in July last year. Tonon will certainly be aiming to do the same against Nguyen to stake his claim on another shot at gold against the winner of the ONE Featherweight MMA World Championship unification bout between reigning king Tang Kai and interim titleholder Le. 

Nguyen wants to be an inspiration

Thus, Ngyuen is doing everything in his power to prepare for him, and this pushed him to make the ultimate sacrifice of spending holidays in the gym instead of at home. Beyond scoring the huge win, “The Situ-Asian” also wants to set a standard for his children to look up to. 

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“Look, I just gotta think of it this way – I’m not in this sport forever. So, the time away, yes, it is a huge sacrifice. Huge sacrifice. But that’s only for the time being, you know,” Nguyen said. “Every fight that I get, I have to make sure that I am the most well prepared, so there’s no excuses every single time, win or lose. It’s the example I want to set for my family and my kids as well.”

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