What does New Orleans native Thanh Le enjoy outside of competing in the Circle?

Thanh Le's father migrated from Asia to the United States before he was born. As such, the state of Louisiana runs through Le’s blood and being.

In an interview with ONE Championship, the ONE featherweight world champion shared that outside the Circle, he enjoys the culture of his home state. He said:

“One thing that everybody goes all out for is all the football games. Man, they do it big. They do it right, you know. Whether it's crawfish boils, which is up there at the top of the list, man. Great family times there. Sitting around boiling crawfish, playing cornhole in the backyard, during the holidays or whatever. It's awesome. That's something that, I think, runs through the state pretty well. Saints games, LSU games are always big. Going out and having a couple beers or whatever, watching the game at a little spot with you and your crew. That's always huge.”

While it’s easy to get behind football random and excellent seafood, there are a few things that Thanh Le hasn't gotten around to, but would like to do someday. He added:

“I don't do the hunting and fishing as much, but that is enormous down there. You know, it’s a sportsman's paradise. All that good stuff is huge. I haven't gotten into it. I've dabbled a little bit and it's been crazy fun. It's just hard to dedicate time to kind of get into those things.”

The New Orleans native spends most of his time perfecting his craft in martial arts. However, he’s always been active and grew up enjoying other adrenaline-filled activities. He said:

“We've got the largest manmade lake. It’s close to New Orleans and we grew up doing a lot of watersports on boats and jet skis and all that stuff on the lake there. And that's always a lot of fun too.”

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Thanh Le looks to do what he does best at ONE: Lights Out

All his hobbies will take a backseat as Thanh Le prepares to defend his world title against Garry Tonon at ONE: Lights Out on March 11.

It will mark Le's first world title defense since taking the belt off Martin Nguyen in October 2020’s ONE: Inside the Matrix. The Vietnamese-American has won all four of his appearances in the Circle by way of knockout and he will no doubt look for another finish against Tonon.

However, matching up against a grappling superstar as dangerous as Garry Tonon could prove to be a tough challenge for Le, especially as 'The Lion Killer' has acclimated well in his transition to MMA. Tonon is currently undefeated in six bouts in MMA and is now the No.2-ranked fighter in the division.

With both fighters having a reputation for finishing their fights, expect fireworks when they meet in the Circle on March 11.