He is most recently coming off a successful title defense against Mongolian great, Narantungalag-Jadambaa. And as he awaits his next opponent, you can learn more about him through the numbers below.
21: Years old when he started to get into mixed martial arts. Nguyen’s original sport was rugby, but after suffering multiple injuries, he was forced to quit. Needing something to keep him fit and active, he turned to martial arts. It’s impressive how far he has come as a professional MMA fighter, especially considering he started rather late.
2: Recorded amateur fights before turning pro. Nguyen fought and came out victorious in a couple of local events, namely Competitive Edge – The Fight Project and Brace for War 21.
7: Years as a professional MMA fighter. He made his debut on July 28, 2012 in an event called Southern Fight Promotions – Cage Conquest 1. The Vietnamese-Austrlian won by rear-naked choke.
3: Victories in two different promotions before getting signed by One Championship. All of those triumphs came via stoppage.
2: Rounds was all he needed to impress One Championship fans in his promotional debut. Nguyen was part of One FC 22 – Battle of Lions opposite Rocky Batolbatol, whom he choked out in round two.
92: Percent finishing rate. Nguyen owns eight victories by KO or TKO and three by submission. He has stopped top-quality opponents such as Edward Kelly, Christian Lee, Marat Gafurov, Eduard Folayang and Narantungalag Jadambaa.
1: Flying knee unleashed to drop Jadambaa in their featherweight title showdown at One Championship – Roots of Honor. It all started with a right hand that wobbled the challenger a bit. Then after two low kicks that sent Jadambaa limping, Nguyen went for the flying knee that ended the bout at 1:07 of the second round.
1: Win by decision. In all of his professional wins, Nguyen went the distance only once, and that’s against Christian Lee at One Championship – Unstoppable Dreams in May 2018. This was a rematch of their 2016 encounter in which he choked out Lee in the first round.
3: Career losses. Nguyen bowed only to high-level opponents, namely Kevin Belingon, Fernandes and Marat Gafurov. He later avenged his loss to Gafurov via second-round knockout.
1: Submission loss in his entire professional career. Only Gafurov was able to stop him. The Russian featherweight submitted him via a rear-naked choke in 41 seconds.
5: First-round finishes. His list of victims include Luke Standing, Kelly, Li Kai Wen, Lee and Kazunori Yokota.
30: Years of age. Nguyen was born and raised in Sydney, Australia, to Vietnamese parents. He currently fights out of Hard Knocks 365.