Tang Kai decisions Thanh Le to become China's first male MMA world champion

In the ONE 160 co-main event, ONE featherweight world champion Thanh Le stepped into the circle to defend his belt and his perfect record in the organization against deadly Chinese striker Tang Kai.

Much had been said between the two fighters in the weeks leading up to the highly anticipated bout. As they went face-to-face inside the circle, the time for talk was clearly over.

As the fighters came out for the first round, both were feeling out one another. Le was light on his feet while Tang was a bit more flat-footed, likely looking for the big shot early. Tang began attacking the lead leg of Le hoping to slow the champion down as the fight progressed.

Coming out for the second round, Tang appeared to take over the pace of the fight. As he continued to chop Le's lead leg, it became noticeable that the champion was hurt. With a minute to go in the second, another nasty leg kick from Tang dropped Le to the mat. As the second round came to a close, the champion was no longer moving as efficiently as he was at the start of the contest.

It was more of the same in the third with the Chinese challenger attacking the leg. Le switched to southpaw, but that didn’t stop Tang from firing off vicious calf kicks and punishing the world champion. Le continued to lunge in, looking for a big shot to finish things, but without properly setting them up. Tang was able to easily avoid the danger with an evasiveness that is typically a signature trait of the Vietnamese-American fighter.

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Thanh Le and Tang Kai enter the championship rounds in their ONE 160 war

Going into the championship rounds, Le brought the pressure, but Tang’s head movement and footwork was as good as it was going to get. Just over two minutes into the fourth, Tang landed a big check left hook that dropped Le.

Tang Kai went down to the ground with Le but quickly returned to his feet and let up the champion. Intent on getting back his respect, Le unloaded a flurry of strikes that sent Tang retreating in the closing moments of the round.

Going into the fifth and final round, Le appeared to be five minutes away from being dethroned. Tang continued damaging Le's legs while the champion was winging punches, desperately trying to get the finish and retain his featherweight crown. With the clock winding down, Le began chasing for a fight-ending shot but Tang stayed elusive until the final bell.

Going to the scorecards, all three judges saw it in favor of the winner and new ONE featherweight world champion, Tang Kai. With the victory, Tang becomes China’s first male mixed martial arts world champion. It was an emotional moment for the new world champion.

Speaking to Mitch Chilson following the victory, Tang Kai said:

“I feel extremely lucky and grateful at this moment. I want to thank ONE Championship for giving me this platform. I want to thank my team, my brothers who gave me all the support, and all the fans who have been unconditionally by my side.”

Tang Kai had nothing but good things to say about his opponent, who gave him a bigger challenge than the new world champion expected:

“Thanh Le is much tougher of an opponent than I expected. I want to thank Thanh Le for putting on such a great show. I didn’t expect at his age, in his 30s. He still has such great stamina. I really really respect this opponent.”