Martin Nguyen Vacates ONE Lightweight World Title Due To Injury

Two-division ONE World Champion Martin “The Situ-Asian” Nguyen has relinquished one of his belts.

The Vietnamese-Australian has vacated his ONE Lightweight World Title after suffering a knee injury in training, leaving him unable to defend his gold for the foreseeable future.

The announcement was made by ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong, who left the door open for Nguyen to return to challenge for the strap when he is back to full fitness, and has resumed his duties as king of the featherweight division.

“The Situ-Asian” was initially recovering from a foot injury he suffered in his last bout against Kevin Belingon in July, but this new setback is much more serious.

Before he confirmed the announcement on his own social media accounts, he explained how he sustained the injury in an exclusive interview with ONE Championship.

“The foot’s alright, but I’ve just recently injured my knee, so I’ll be out for a while,” he says.

“I was wrestling last Tuesday night, and I tore my PCL, MCL – a grade 2 tear – and strained my ACL.

“I don’t need surgery, thank the Lord. It’s going to be a long process, but I’m further along than I would have expected, so we’ll see what happens.”

“The Situ-Asian” won the ONE Lightweight World Title with an incredible knockout of Eduard “Landslide” Folayang last November, but has not defended it yet because of his commitments in the featherweight and bantamweight division this year.

Despite his misfortune, he is looking on the positive side of things, and expressed his determination to defend his ONE Featherweight World Title against all challengers when he is ready to compete again.

“It is what it is. I had my time in the lightweight division, I had my time in the bantamweight division – I’m back to my normal featherweight division,” he adds.

“There’s no way I’m leaving the featherweight division, ever.”