By:  | October 8, 2023 11:53 am

Martin Nguyen wants a piece of Garry Tonon! A fight between the two featherweights has been the subject of speculation for several years and it sounds like it might be happening.

If Nguyen gets his way then it definitely will. The Australian is in the US to train at Kill Cliff MMA and it sounds like he is in full on fight mode.

Nguyen doesn’t actually have a fight booked by the sounds of it but the Australian knows exactly who he wants to face next,

“Yo Garry Tonon are we doing this or what? The division is finally getting momentum, we better ride it or we’ll get left behind.”

 

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Decorated grappler

Both men are currently coming off wins and ranked in the top five at featherweight. Tonon is currently #2 while Nguyen is #4 although the rankings don’t appear to have been updated recently.

Last weekend #3 ranked Ilya Freymanov was submitted in the opening round by #1 ranked Thanh Le. The winner is guaranteed a shot at champion Tang Kai while the loser is likely to slip further towards the tail end of the top five.

Nguyen has been stopped with strikes three times in his last five fights. But Tonon is a decorated grappler with a BJJ black belt so probably won’t be looking to test his chin.

Title rematch

Nguyen hasn’t been submitted since 2015 when he was finished by Marat Gafurov. He went the distance with BJJ black belt Bibiano Fernandes three years later, only dropping a split decision to the Brazilian veteran.

The sole defeat of Tonon’s career came at ONE: ‘Lights Out’ last year when he was finished by Thanh Le. He is coming off back to back submission wins and knows a win over Nguyen would probably secure him a title rematch.

Tonon fought as recently as July but Nguyen hasn’t tasted action since February which might explain why the Australian is so keen to get this deal done. With Le and Kai likely to face off towards the end of the year it certainly seems like the featherweight fight to make.