Martin Nguyen fight canceled after person sitting in front of him on flight tests positive for COVID-19

Former ONE Championship double champ Martin Nguyen was set to try and rebound on ONE on TNT 2 next Wednesday, April 14. Unfortunately, that will no longer be happening due to reasons out of his control.

Nguyen was booked as the co-main event next week against Kim Jae Woong. But just when he thought he was in the clear, the Singaporean government pulled the plug.

“The most unfortunate situation you will ever come across,” Martin Nguyen told South China Morning Post when asked what happened. “I was ready to go, I feel so amazing, this fight camp was a dream. In saying that, we came over here, I had my coach with me, my teammates that were fighting on the same card, felt amazing, man. Nothing could get in the way of me getting my hand raised against Kim. On the third day, just woke up to bad news, man.

“I did the photoshoot, I’d done everything, I was like, ‘Yes, time’s almost clear, I’m fighting within a day and a half—which is meant to be this morning—and yeah, got the news that the guy traveling from Qatar airport over to Singapore, the guy who was sitting right in front of me—I had a whole row to myself, I slept the whole flight, I lied down, didn’t even go to the toilet, did not leave my seat at all—the guy sitting directly in front of me tested positive for COVID.

“Once we landed in Singapore, they make us do like a PCR test and that result for him came back positive,” Martin Nguyen continued. “They traced it back to the seating arrangements and unfortunate I was just sitting behind this guy who was positive and Singapore, they don’t muck around when it comes to COVID itself and that’s why it’s one of the leading countries in the world with the lowest cases. It is what it is, I’m gutted, I’m devastated.”

Currently staying at a hotel away from the ONE Championship fighter hotel, Nguyen has to quarantine for nine more days after already having done so for three. As of right now, Nguyen notes that he’s done five COVID-19 tests with all results coming back negative.

Always an entertaining performer, the 13-4 Aussie former lightweight and featherweight titleholder last fought in October 2020. In said bout, Nguyen dropped his latter crown to Thanh Le in a back and forth affair.