Tip Tuesday: Martin Nguyen Breaks Down His Overhand Right
Martin “The Situ-Asian” Nguyen’s overhand right is one of the most devastating finishing strikes in all of ONE Championship.
The ONE Featherweight World Champion has used the signature punch to score knockouts and win World Titles in two divisions. Despite knowing it’s coming, his rivals have been unable to stop it.
While Nguyen’s athleticism and power certainly play big roles in his overhand, the Vietnamese-Australian slugger relies on more than just brute force to deliver the move.
“I do feel strong, but I think it’s the punches that you don’t see coming that hurt the most, so I take my hat off to my timing and my precision,” he says.
Indeed, the 31-year-old’s concussive calling card is most effective as a counter-strike, which he uses when opponents lunge in with their own offense, meeting that momentum with his fist.
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For this reason, he welcomes aggressive strikers.
“With my signature overhand right, if you’re on point, then it’s very rare that you’ll get hit with the right — you’ve got to start playing a chess match,” Nguyen says.
“But if I’ve got opponents that are throwing continuous strikes thinking that’s going to work for them, and they’re not mixing it up, I like to finish [them with] the right hand.”
Of course, most challengers are well aware of the dynamite in Nguyen’s looping punch, so they will not willingly move into its range.
To deal with those standoffish foes, he has other techniques to draw them in.
“During a match, I like to play chess with my opponent. I like to bait my head and give them a target to hit, so I’ll drop my hands, give them my head, and move it side to side,” the featherweight king says.
“As soon as I see my opponent giving that muscle twitch and moving towards that target, I like to dip to my left, as well as come over with the right.”
Whether his opponent throws a spinning attack like Eduard “Landslide” Folayang, a low kick like Marat “Cobra” Gafurov, or a jab like Kazunori Yokota, “The Situ-Asian” has proven he can time and land his incredible knockout punch.
He throws it with an arched trajectory and then drops it down onto the chin – often knocking his rival down to the canvas.
“The overhand right is a hooking action, and boom! That’s how I throw my overhand rights,” Nguyen adds.
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