Asia’s ONE Championship has lined up a battle between champions this November. At ONE Championship: Legends of the World, lightweight champion Eduard Folayang will defend his 155lb crown against featherweight champ Martin Nguyen. In the process, Nguyen will seek to become the promotion’s first simultaneous two-division champion.
In a press release Tuesday, Folayang was quoted as saying that “as a martial artist, I am constantly in search of the biggest challenges, the biggest tests of my skills. As champion, I welcome any and all challengers. Martin [Nguyen] is one of the best in the world and it is an honor to share the ONE Championship cage with him. This is a bout for the fans, and I can’t wait to perform in front of my hometown crowd in Manila once again.”
Folayang (18–5), currently on a four-fight winning streak in ONE, captured the lightweight title against Shinya Aoki in November last year. He’s coming off his first successful title defense over Ev Ting this past April.
Martin Nguyen (9-1), meanwhile, has won five straight in the promotion, capping that streak off with his featherweight championship win over Marat Gafurov last month. That fight, the pair’s second, saw Nguyen knock out then-champ Gafurov in the second round at ONE Championship: Quest for Greatness.
Regarding the fight, the newly minted featherweight champion said that “New Years’ will be coming early this year, because in this fight there will definitely be fireworks.”
“I’m out not only to make a statement, but to go down in history as the best to ever compete under the ONE Championship banner. I have the utmost respect for the lightweight champion, and will definitely not take his skills for granted. But this is going to be a dog fight.”
ONE Championship: Legends of the World takes place at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila on November 10.
