“I’d like to collect some of those belts” - Thanh Le wants cross-promotional fights

Thanh Le’s prized possession is the ONE featherweight world title. However, the American-Vietnamese star has admitted that he'd love to get his hands on other world titles outside of ONE Championship.

In an interview with SCMP MMA’s Tom Taylor last week, Le, who puts his featherweight gold on the line against Garry Tonon at ONE: Lights Out on Friday, March 11, expressed interest in testing his skills against fellow world champions.

When asked about the possibility of this happening and the landscape of the industry beyond ONE, Thanh Le stated:

“I mean you know you're looking at the champs, obviously. [Alexander] Volkanovski, [Max] Holloway, those battles were awesome. Depending on how you justified obviously, but we've got Volt, you've got AJ McKee, [who] just knocked out Pitbull. Those two are two of the best featherweights in the world as well."

Apart from the top contenders plying their trade at UFC and Bellator, the ONE featherweight world champion opened up on PFL. He confidently suggested that he'd go toe-to-toe with any of them should ONE and other promotions agree on a deal.

“And then the PFL has had some changes with their title. So, Lance [Palmer] – I know Lance. He's a buddy of mine, and he's a very, very skilled fighter. So yeah, there's a rack of dudes who are at the top of the list. And they're dangerous, and they hold belts, and I'd like to collect some of those [belts].”

Watch the full interview here:

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Thanh Le believes ONE has top talent: “We don’t need them to prove who’s the best”

Though he's eager to test himself against world champions from other promotions, the 36-year-old fighter remains positive that ONE has the best martial artists.

The featherweight division at the Singapore-based promotion is stacked with world-class talent.

Thanh Le knows this and reiterated that he wants cross-promotional stuff to happen, not because he is running out of contenders on the global stage, but simply because he wants to show that his pack of featherweight fighters can face off against anyone.

“Let's beat the hell out of each other and see who's the best featherweight in the world. And then if they want to, the UFC wants to throw some guy in a hat. We'll fight that guy too. But we don't need them to prove who's the best. We need to do this cross-promotion stuff to set the standard. So, it can be the new norm.”

Catch Thanh Le in the main event of ONE: Lights Out this Friday, March 11, live from the Singapore Indoor Stadium.