ONE Championship: Bi Nguyen laughs off Ritu Phogat fans’ claims of ‘robbery’, ‘cheating’
- ‘It wasn’t cheating. I fought in a smart way to win in the promotion I fight in,’ says ‘Killer Bee’ after split decision against ‘The Indian Tigress’
- ‘I’m not understanding of the hate and death threats I got in my inbox, I mean that’s just ridiculous,’ Nguyen adds
Plenty of fans were upset after Bi Nguyen was awarded a split decision over Ritu Phogat at ONE Championship’s Dangal event, handing “The Indian Tigress” her first loss in MMA in the process.
But “Killer Bee” (6-6) is having none of the criticism, particularly from her opponent’s fans, some of whom have hit out on social media with claims she “cheated” and Phogat (4-1) was “robbed”.
“I’m understanding of it,” Vietnamese-American Nguyen told SCMP MMA. “I’m not understanding of the hate and death threats I got in my inbox, I mean that’s just ridiculous. But I know they’re new to MMA, they’re passionate about Ritu, and all the power to her for having so much love in her country.
“But for me definitely I knew going into the fight, someone like Ritu, you’re gonna keep watching her fights go this way. She’s either gonna shut you down and finish you … I knew she was gonna take me down, 11 weeks isn’t enough time to nullify her Olympic-level wrestling.
“But I knew I had to nullify her on the ground. She couldn’t get a lot of shots off. She only got a few in the entire time she controlled me. I knew my conditioning was gonna get me to the point I wasn’t tired after dealing with her grappling.