Martin Nguyen returned to the winner’s column with an impressive third-round stoppage over Ukrainian fighter Kiril Gorobets.
Coming into the fight with back-to-back losses, the pressure was on Nguyen but it didn’t show as the former two-division champion put the featherweight division back on notice.
The Sydneysider controlled the cage with pinpoint accuracy striking. Even in unfavourable positions in the second round, Nguyen stayed calm and composed, as he waited for his opportunity to escape and made his opponent pay on the feet where both were throwing heavy hands.
The damage started to add up for Gorobets, with Nguyen particularly attacking the body which eventually became too much Gorobets as he grimaced from a punishing shot to the mid-section. He attempted to fight through it before dropping to the canvas and Nguyen followed him to get the stoppage, 2:18 into the last round.
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“It’s been three years since I got a win. I was at my lowest of low. Even contemplating, ‘do I have what it takes anymore?’, and I’ll be straight up honest. I’m honest from the heart. If it was not for my wife and kids, I would not be here today,” Nguyen said in his post-fight speech before giving special thanks to former WBC boxing challenger ‘Skinny’ Hussein for the training in the lead-up, as well as Nguyen’s teammates.
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Nguyen went on to call out Christian Lee for a grappling match at the next One Championship event on March 26.
An all-important victory for Nguyen who moves to 14-5 in his professional career. Gorobets, who was making his promotion debut, loses for the first time since 2015 and drops to 11-2
Earlier in the night, Josh Tonna returned to the cage, this time under super series kickboxing rules. It proved to be an unsuccessful return, as he was stopped by Chinese 18-year-old prospect, Peimian Zhang.
Nicknamed the ‘Fighting Rooster’, Zhang attacked the body and dropped the Australian three times to get the second-round TKO finish.
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