Martin Nguyen, who owns two World titles in ONE Championship, has let go of one his straps after suffering a knee injury in training.
The Vietnamese-Australian fighter relinquished the World lightweight belt after suffering a tear on his posterior cruciate ligament, medial collateral ligament, and straining his anterior cruciate ligament.
ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong announced Nguyen’s decision on his Facebook account but he did leave the door open for the still featherweight champion to contend for the lightweight strap once healthy.
“Given that the lightweight belt ha not been defended in a year, Martin has chosen to do the honorable thing by clearing the world title path for his fellow athletes in the lightweight division,” said Sityodtong.
“For now, he will focus 100 percent of his efforts on building his legacy in the featherweight division. Of course the door is always open for his return to lightweight,” added Sityodtong. “We wish Martin a full and speedy recovery!”
Nguyen (11-3) was already recovering from a foot injury he suffered in his last bout against Kevin Belingon for the interim ONE World bantamweight interim title.
“The foot’s alright but I’ve just recently injured my knee so I’ll be out for a while,” said Nguyen in an interview with the ONE Championship website. “I was wrestling last Tuesday night and I tore my PCL, MCL—a grade 2 tear—and strained my ACL.”
Nguyen won the lightweight belt in November of 2017 after knocking out Filipino legend Eduard Folayang.
The lightweight belt, however, hasn’t been defended since that fight due to Nguyen’s commitment in the featherweight and bantamweight divisions.
“I don’t need surgery, thank the Lord,” said Nguyen about his injury. “It’s going to be a long process, but I’m further along than I would have expected so we’ll see what happens.”
“It is what it is, I had my time in the lightweight division, I had my time in the bantamweight division, and now I’m back to my normal featherweight division,” said Nguyen. “There’s no way I’m leaving the featherweight division, ever.”