The pair locked horns in a scheduled three-round featherweight bout at ONE: QUEST FOR POWER, which took place Saturday evening, 14 January, at the Jakarta Convention Center in Indonesia.

Nguyen and Yokota stormed out of the gates looking to trade power shots at the center of the ONE Championship cage. With Yokota constantly stalking forward to unleash his combinations, Nguyen countered with overhand rights that often found their mark.

When a counter right hand dropped Yokota to the canvas, Nguyen immediately jumped on his Japanese foe, raining down punches to the side of Yokota’s head. Referee Olivier Coste swiftly stepped in and called a halt to the contest.

The official finish came at 3:36 of round one. With the victory, Nguyen improves his record to 8-1 while Yokota drops to 25-7-3. It was Nguyen’s fourth-straight victory by thrilling finish.

After stopping top featherweights Edward Kelly of the Philippines and Li Kai Wen of China, Nguyen went on to author one of the most memorable submission finishes of 2016 when he put young prospect Christian Lee to sleep with a modified guillotine choke.

Nguyen, whose only loss came at the hands of ONE Featherweight World Champion Marat “Cobra” Gafurov, has really come into his own and improved his overall game tremendously as shown in his past few bouts.

Whether or not Nguyen has earned a rematch with Gafurov because of his most recent performance against Yokota remains to be seen.

One thing is for sure however, Nguyen has never looked any better, clearly cementing his spot among the top featherweights in ONE Championship.