Exclusive | ONE Championship grants Bi Nguyen release from roster; ‘Killer Bee’ says fight news coming soon
- Vietnamese-American atomweight says ‘fight news coming soon’ as she prepares to announce ‘my new MMA home’
- ‘Killer Bee’ thanks her fans on social media as she gets ready for a ‘new chapter in my career’
ONE Championship has released Vietnamese-American atomweight Bi Nguyen, the Post has learned.
Nguyen later said in a reply on Twitter to the Post that she had asked for her release from the global martial arts promotion.
“I’m grateful for my time with ONE Championship,” she wrote. “I’ve asked for a release and ONE agreed. I am working on some new things.”
Nguyen later added in an Instagram post that she was “getting ready for a new chapter in my career”, and quashed any notion of retirement.
“You guys, I’m about to cry because all I got were messages saying you would follow me anywhere and everywhere and you’re excited to see me fight,” she said in a video posted on her Instagram story.
“I will announce fight news and my new MMA home soon.”
The US-based Nguyen, who trains out of Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas and Heritage Muay Thai in Texas went 2-5 in MMA competition in the Asian martial arts promotion.
Her most famous victory came in a May 2021 upset over “The Indian Tigress” Ritu Phogat, who would go on to reach the final of ONE’s recent atomweight grand prix.
Her five defeats all came by decision, including a contentious defeat by Bozhena Antoniyar in Kuala Lumpur in July 2020.
A former reality television star on the hit US show Survivor, Nguyen debuted in ONE with a first-round TKO of Dwi Ani Retno Wulan in April 2019 in Manila.
Survivor star Bi Nguyen primed and ready for One Championship debut
She also turned her hand to Muay Thai in ONE, securing a September 2019 split-decision win over Puja Tomar on the promotion’s debut card in Vietnam.
Nguyen ended her time in ONE Championship on a 1-3 run, with losses to contenders Jenelyn Olsim and Jihin Radzuan sandwiching her victory over Phogat.
“I don’t know how much more of this I can do guys,” a dejected looking Nguyen said backstage after her final defeat in Singapore at ONE: Bad Blood.
She also suffered a November 2019 unanimous decision defeat by Thailand’s Stamp Fairtex, who went on to become ONE’s atomweight grand prix champion and challenge Angela Lee for the title, coming up short at ONE X in March.
