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If former ONE featherweight MMA world champion and reigning interim king Thanh Le successfully reclaims his world title against Tang Kai in their upcoming rematch at ONE 166 on March 1, he won’t like the idea of a second meeting with Garry Tonon.
Although he is fully focused on the task at hand against the Chinese megastar and reigning king for their unification fight inside the Lusail Sports Arena in Qatar, Le will not entertain the idea of facing Tonon once again to defend his title.
The American-Vietnamese superstar revealed this during his most recent interview with ONE Championship by saying:
“We'll see what Garry [brings]. It looks like that's not super exciting to me. I mean, what am I supposed to do, beat them even better?”
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Thanh Le believes that his previous victory over ‘The Lion Killer’ in March 2022 at ONE: Lights Out was dominant enough that the promotion won’t need to see a rerun between them. The 50/50 and MidCity MMA representative finished Tonon in under a minute by knocking him out cold while he was attempting a submission maneuver.
He added:
“Like I don't know how that could happen. I could walk out there and. Just walk out, punch him in the face, and knock him out. And it still really wouldn't be better. So I don't know. We'll see how that goes.”
Thanh Le claims that he is now a jiu-jitsu specialist after submitting Ilya Freymanov
Thanh Le rightfully received a rematch with Kai by submitting the previously unbeaten Ilya Freymanov in the main event of ONE Fight Night 15 in October 2023 to capture the ONE interim featherweight MMA world title.
Due to his incredible 62-second triumph over the feared contender, the 38-year-old knockout artist has proclaimed himself a jiu-jitsu specialist.
With this renewed confidence and newly developed grappling skills, Le is confident of his chances against the reigning Chinese world champion.
ONE 166: Qatar is available live and for free to all Prime Video subscribers in North America on March 1.
