“It’s time to give it back” - Thanh Le on a mission to reclaim undisputed featherweight MMA gold from Tang Kai in Qatar

American-Vietnamese fighter Thanh Le has issued a warning that the reign of ONE featherweight MMA world champion Tang Kai is going to end in their scheduled title rematch this week.

The two top featherweight fighters will unify the division’s belts at ONE 166: Qatar on March 1. Thanh Le, the interim titleholder, has vowed to see his cause through and exact payback on Tang Kai for the decision defeat he absorbed in their first title clash in August 2022.

The 38-year-old Kentucky native made his intentions known in a highlight reel he posted on Instagram. He captioned it with:

“Finally y’all get the reference🤣 Thanks for holding that for me, but it’s time to give it back”

Thanh Le became featherweight world champion by knocking out former divisional king Martin Nguyen in their title clash in October 2020. He then successfully defended it in March 2022 with an opening-round KO of American Garry Tonon before losing it to Tang Kai five months later.

He has since bounced back from it with a first-round submission (heel hook) of Russian Ilya Freymanov in October to become the interim world champion.

Tang Kai, for his part, is making his first defense of the title and is coming off an injury.

ONE 166 is the promotion's first-ever live on-ground event in Qatar. The card will take place at the Lusail Sports Arena and is available to Amazon Prime Video subscribers in North America live and for free on Friday, March 1.

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Thanh Le vows to bring the thunder at ONE 166: Qatar

ONE interim featherweight MMA world champion Thanh Le vows to bring the thunder in his scheduled title rematch with reigning divisional king Tang Kai at ONE 166: Qatar on March 1.

He said the plan is for him to go for an exciting early finish and remind fight fans of the potent fighter that he is .

The American-Vietnamese fighter shared to ONE Championship in an interview:

“You know with a 100% finish rate, it's hard, it's hard for everybody else to be in second place. So you know, the most exciting guy in the company, the 100% finish rate, not many guys have that. I've got it in my whole career where I was fighting for ONE, or I fought for a few different organizations, some high level guys, so that's all I do. I can't overstate it because that's all I'm gonna do is finish.”

The unification bout between Thanh Le and Tang Kai is one of three title rematches on offer at ONE 166: Qatar.