“ONE: Roots of Honor” is scheduled to take place at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines. Martin “The Situ-Asian” Nguyen, 29, of Australia and Vietnam is reportedly having his second title defense as the reigning ONE Featherweight World Champion in the main event.
ONE Championship has yet to confirm the “ONE: Roots of Honor” fight card. But the rumored challenger of Nguyen is former ONE Featherweight World Champion Narantungalag “Tungaa” Jadambaa, 43, of Mongolia.
Nguyen is the first-ever two-division champion of ONE Championship. On August 18, 2017, he became the ONE Featherweight World Champion by dethroning defending champion Marat “Cobra” Gafurov, 3, of Russia during their rematch at “ONE: Quest for Greatness” at the Stadium Negara in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
While reigning as the ONE Featherweight World Champion, Nguyen became the new ONE Lightweight World Champion by dethroning defending champion Eduard “Landslide” Folayang, 34, of the Philippines at “ONE: Legends of the World” at the SM Mall of Asia Arena on November 10, 2017. However, the Vietnamese-Australian mixed martial artist never defended the lightweight belt.
On September 28, 2018, Nguyen vacated the lightweight title after an injury that made him unable to defend it. On November 23, 2018, Folayang became the ONE Lightweight World Champion again by defeating Amir Khan, 24, of Singapore at “ONE: Conquest of Champions” at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
As the reigning ONE Featherweight World Champion, Nguyen has one successful title defense. On May 18, 2018, Khan’s fellow Evolve MMA athlete Christian “The Warrior” Lee, 20, failed to dethrone the Vietnamese-Australian champ at “ONE: Unstoppable Dreams” at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore.
Folayang’s fellow Team Lakay athlete Joshua “The Passion” Pacio is reported to headline “ONE: Roots of Honor” with reigning ONE Strawweight World Champion Yosuke “Tobizaru” Saruta, 31, of Japan. It will be a rematch between Saruta and Pacio, who is a former ONE Strawweight World Champion.
On January 19, 2019, Saruta challenged Pacio at “ONE: Eternal Glory” at the Istora Senayan in Jakarta, Indonesia. The Japanese challenger won via split decision.
Meanwhile, know a little bit more about Nguyen here:
CONAN Daily 