Thanh Le admits being ‘a little nervous’ before Ilya Freymanov fight: “Ilya is definitely dangerous”

Newly crowned ONE interim featherweight MMA world champion Thanh Le is one of the coolest cats in the fight game. The Vietnamese-American sharpshooter exudes a calm and collected aura in his fights, and he always appears in control of any situation, no matter how dire.

However, the 38-year-old MMA veteran admits he felt a little bit of nerves in his most recent fight.

Le took on no.3-ranked featherweight MMA contender Ilya Freymanov of Russia in the main event of ONE Fight Night 15: Le vs. Freymanov on Prime Video last week. The blockbuster offering took place live from the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand on Saturday, October 7th.

In the official ONE Fight Night 15 post-fight interviews backstage, Le admitted he was a little bit in his own head coming into the contest.

The 38-year-old Louisiana native said:

“A lot of things honestly, but a couple of things, I was a little nervous before this fight.

A couple of things personally, you know, going through my head, just it was really cool to be able to face a change of opponent, short camp. Ilya is definitely dangerous. He had something to do with that as well. But it was nice.”

Taking on a dangerous finisher like Freymanov was certainly no easy task. The previously unbeaten Russian was one of the most avoided fighters in the promotion for a reason. Le stepped up to the plate and got the job done.

Le added:

“It was nice to be able to feel that challenge, be able to step up and perform the way I did.”

With the victory, Le captures the interim featherweight gold and sets up a highly anticipated world title unification against reigning ONE featherweight MMA world champion Tang Kai of China.

Fans in the United States and Canada can catch all the action of ONE Fight Night 15 via replay on Amazon Prime Video.