Garry Tonon has just booked to fight Martin Nguyen in a battle between two top featherweights at ONE 165 on January 28th, 2024. Both men are sitting right at the top of the divisional rankings at ONE Championship, with Tonon ranked 1st and Nguyen ranked 3rd. The two men are at slightly different points in their careers though, and they have had differing outcomes when they’ve competed recently. Nguyen is a former featherweight and lightweight champion, but he lost his title to Thanh Le back in 2020 and has struggled to find his form since.
Le has alternated wins and losses since losing his title and with a 15-6 record at the age of 34, he’s almost certainly at the tail-end of his career. Tonon might only be a few years younger at 32, but he’s far newer to MMA as he transitioned to the sport after an extensive grappling career. He worked his way up the rankings by winning his first six fights in a row and earned his first title-shot in 2022. He was viciously knocked out by Le though, and sent to the back of the queue as a result.
He has since bounced back in impressive form with a pair of submission wins, most recently at ONE Fight Night 12 when he finished the formerly-undefeated Shamil Gasanov with a slick kneebar. If Tonon is able to improve his win-streak to three fights including a win over a former champion, another chance at glory should be waiting for him. Nguyen might be a little further away from another title-shot, but a win over Tonon would be a massive boost and would put him on a win-streak for the first time in over 4 years. Tonon isn’t the only grappler competing at ONE 165 either, as Shinya Aoki will be facing off against Sage Northcutt elsewhere on the card.
ONE Championship announced the news that Garry Tonon was going to fight Martin Nguyen at ONE 165 in a recent post to their official Instagram account: