Ilya Freymanov calls out Thanh Le after impressive submission at ONE Fight Night 11

There appears to be a new dark horse in the race for featherweight MMA world title gold in ONE Championship. His name is Ilya Freymanov.

The Kuznya Fight Club upstart made it two first-round finishes from two outings inside the ring at ONE Fight Night 11 last week, as he got the best of Shinechagtga Zoltsetseg via rear-naked choke at 2:18 of their contest.

However, Ilya Freymanov had to overcome a nervy attack early on in the fight, which appeared to put him on his final legs before that insane rally.

Speaking on the incident during the in-ring post-fight interview with Mitch Chilson, the Krasnodar native said he wasn’t stunned by Zoltsetseg’s left jab that connected smack on his face one bit.

He told Chilson:

“The damage actually was not that bad, but when I went to the corner and blew my nose, it swelled up.”

For starters, blowing a nose with small clots can affect vision and balance. Thankfully, it didn’t appear to affect the 27-year-old as he regained composure and caught his Mongolian foe with a stinging knee that allowed him to dictate the action.

A brief ground-and-pound attack followed by the match-winning choke confirmed his win shortly thereafter.

At the moment, the sky seems to be the limit for the knockout specialist and the No.3-ranked contender. But instead of calling for an immediate shot at the world title, he turned his attention to top-ranked superstar and former kingpin Thanh Le for a slugfest.

During the same session with Chilson, Ilya Freymanov said:

“Thanh Le, where are you? Thanh Le, I’m waiting for you. Let’s go, brother. Good fight.”

North American fans can catch the entire ONE Fight Night 11 card via replay on Amazon Prime Video.