“I'm all in on martial arts, but I can literally do whatever I want” - Thanh Le on what comes next in his career

Former ONE featherweight world champion Thanh Le has always been a fighter with one eye set on the future.

Whilst that is usually in relation to weighing up his next challenge in the Circle, Thanh Le is also very conscious of his career in the sport and what will come after.

In an interview with From The Stands MMA, Le spoke about campaigning for a rematch with Tang Kai who defeated him for the featherweight title in August. Le also discussed his current situation away from competition:

“This is purely based on how I feel, because there's a benefit to how I personally have approached the game, it's like, I'm all in on martial arts, but I can literally do whatever I want. As far as being a successful human, I'm not saying I'll be great at everything, I'm just saying that I could do what I want. I've had corporate jobs, I've had sales jobs, and I'm good at those. And I really like martial arts, I really like teaching and coaching like I can do a bunch of different things. So I don't have to fight to support my family. Because we all know, that's my number one priority, to take care of the people around me. So I can do that in many ways. I really like fighting, and I'm pretty good at it so that's the path right now.”

He added:

“If I wake up tomorrow morning, and I'm like, man, I don't want to train more. I don't want to fight or I just don't have the same desire to get it, I'll quit tomorrow. None of that bothers me."

Watch the full interview with Thanh Le below:

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“It did throw a little monkey wrench in the situation” - Thanh Le says Tang Kai’s style threw him off

After a brief time away from the spotlight, former ONE featherweight world champion Thanh Le has spoken about his loss to Tang Kai in August. Le lost his world championship to the rising Chinese star in a fight where Tang dominated the majority of the contest after starting strong in the opening round.

In the same interview with From the Stands MMA, the Vietnamese-American admitted that his challenger threw him off right from the start of their fight with his style. With a clear strategy which he stuck to for all five rounds, Tang Kai managed to unsettle Thanh Le’s offense. Le believes he has now learnt from this in order to make the right adjustments before stepping into the Circle for a rematch:

“He hardly took a step forward, so it did throw a little monkey wrench in the situation it created but obviously, next time we go with him, we stay away from his dangerous weapons, which are going to be the same ones. His lead left hook, his lead left kick, those are all very, very dangerous weapons. He's very good, sharp with those. And he's got good timing with those things. And we want to make sure our entries, our approaches, and the way we close distance won't allow him to do what he does best."