"An interesting little piece as well" - Thanh Le on Niclas Larsen's ONE Championship debut on the ONE 158 main event

ONE Championships Thanh Le took a break from the gym to speak with Dylan Bowker about ONE 158's big main event Muay Thai bout.

Niclas Larsen steps into the spotlight at ONE 158 on June 3. Making his promotional debut, Larsen was thrust into the main event of the evening after some changes were made to the previously announced card.

His opponent will be Tawanchai P.K.Saenchai. After a big knockout win over Saemapetch Fairtex in January, Tawanchai will look to make it two-in-a-row against the debutant.

While speaking to Dylan Bowker, ONE featherweight champion Thanh Le discussed Larsen's highly anticipated debut:

"Yeah, another piece of that is, you know I'm not even familiar if Larsen has been in little gloves fighting at all. I'm sure he's obviously training that, getting ready for this fight, but being in the ring or being in the cage, with little gloves fighting somebody that's done it a few times, that's an interesting little piece as well."

When Niclas Larsen spoke to ONE Championship regarding his sudden main event status, he was excited for the opportunity to prove that he belongs in the spotlight:

“Just to debut in ONE Championship is incredible. And to see that I’m now fighting in the main event, and against a strong opponent like Tawanchai, I’m just feeling so, so blessed. I feel so good, and I feel so much motivation. I couldn’t see a better place to be than in ONE Championship. So I’ve been working a lot to come in and show that I belong in the greatest promotion in the world.”

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Thanh Le discusses a possible move to Muay Thai

While discussing the ONE 158 Muay Thai main event. Thanh Le was asked if he had considered a move to Muay Thai at some point to test his striking with some of the best in the world:

"I'm very interested in expanding my little reach for sure. I am 100% in mixed martial arts right now, We've got such a good lineup coming up to try and get the belt. That's where my focus is and then also kind of eyeing up other divisions in mixed martial arts, but with the debut of the ONE X mixed rules situation, I would actually welcome something like that."

While discussing his potential return to the ONE circle in the near future, Thanh Le said:

"To kind of give you an update, I had an idea of who I was facing next because of the rankings and the call outs from ONE X, but that seemed to be a title eliminator fight. I think it's going to work out that way where I'll face Tang Kai, but nothing's written in stone yet. We'll see what the company wants to do, but that seems to be the next logical matchup."

Watch the full interview with Dylan Bowker below: