Thanh Le acknowledges risk of fighting ‘dangerous’ short-notice opponent Ilya Freymanov

Former ONE featherweight MMA world champion Thanh Le is aware of the risk involved in facing a dangerous opponent like Ilya Freymanov on short notice. But he said it is going to be all worth it moving forward.

The 38-year-old American-Vietnamese fighter was initially angling to battle Tang Kai of China in a rematch after the latter took the featherweight gold from him in August last year. Unfortunately, the reigning champion is a no-go after injuring his knee and unable to compete.

In came Ilya Freymanov, who is stepping in on short notice to battle Thanh Le in an interim ONE featherweight championship clash at ONE Fight Night 15 on Prime Video happening on October 6 in Bangkok.

In an interview with ONE Championship, the 50/50 and MidCity MMA athlete shared the reason he chose to battle Freymanov and why it is going to be worth his while despite the risk, saying:

“So why the interim title is appealing to me? The extra dollars. And obviously, I'm fighting Ilya, who is one of the best in the division, who's beaten a longtime champion, who got hurt and finished another guy who's a great fighter. He's a dangerous and very tough fight. But we got to be smart about this and we've got to understand that the gold strap equals extra dollars in the future.

“We've got to have an incentive for a short camp fight for an opponent replacement and somebody that's not the guy I originally wanted to fight, which was to get my belt back. So that's kind of a little run down of where I'm at.”

Prior to losing to Tang Kai, Thanh Le was on an impressive roll, winning five straight, all by way of knockout.

Ilya Freymanov, meanwhile, has won his first two fights in ONE, which both came by way of finishes in the opening round.

The 27-year-old Russian stopped former two-division ONE world champion Martin Nguyen by technical knockout (knee strikes) in September 2022 and in June this year he submitted by rear-naked choke Shinechagtga Zoltsetseg of Mongolia.

ONE Fight Night 15 will take place at the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium and will air live in US primetime free of charge for existing Prime Video subscribers in North America.