By:  | May 31, 2023 3:18 pm

Ilya Freymanov got his ONE Championship career off to the perfect start. There can’t be many better ways to announce yourself to fans of the promotion than by stopping former two division champion Martin Nguyen in the first round.

Next up for the Russian is a fight against hard hitting Mongolian Shinechagtga Zoltsetseg. Freymanov picked up a $50,000 USD performance bonus for his debut win.

He has even higher hopes for his second outing which is booked for ONE Fight Night 11 on June 10th. The Russian wants to earn twice as much money as well as a featherweight title shot by beating Zoltsetseg,

“An ideal scenario is to end this fight early, get a double bonus of US$100,000, and then fight for the belt next. Now, that would be perfect!”

Strong opponent

His opponent saw a four fight winning streak snapped by a disqualification at ONE on TNT 2 in 2021. The Mongolian has not fought for over two years but Freymanov feels he will be a tough opponent in a similar mould to Nguyen,

“I think Shinechagtga is a strong opponent. He has dangerous hands. Like Martin, he relies heavily on his striking. He prioritizes it. Shinechagtga might be more diverse, he has experience in classical boxing, and his footwork might be better. It appears that Shinechagtga is a skilled boxer.”

Having stopped his last opponent with strikes Freymanov thinks that the Mongolian might try and take him down,

“He makes good use of his strengths, which is striking, in general, and good boxing techniques. He knows how to use his hands but then again, it won’t surprise me if he tries to use wrestling as an element of surprise.”

Different calibre

But while Freymanov sees similarities between Nguyen and Shinechagtga he does not think the Mongolian is of quite the same calibre as the double champion,

“They are two fighters of different caliber. Martin is more experienced and went through some tough fights, big fights, and was a double champion for a reason. As for Shinechagtga, he is younger, emotional, and less experienced in fighting.”

Freymanov sounds very confident. He is already looking ahead and hopes to land himself a bigger fight as well as a larger bonus with a victory over Shinechagtga,

“I am ready to fight a challenger, a champion, or someone with good media exposure. My dream opponent will be the winner of the Tang Kai vs. Thanh Le rematch.”