Thanh Le says forged grappling game allowed him to ‘bring the heat’ to Ilya Freymanov

Newly minted ONE interim featherweight world champion Thanh Le has surprised everyone but himself and his team after his 62-second first-round submission of Ilya Freymanov in their main event showdown at ONE Fight Night 15.

Fans and experts expected Le, the former ONE featherweight world champion, to come forward and fully utilize his striking arsenal against the 27-year-old Russian as soon as the contest got underway last Friday, October 6, inside the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

But when they engaged in a grappling exchange, Le was able to maneuver into a heel hook submission that forced a tap from Freymanov.

This spells trouble for the whole featherweight division, as the American-Vietnamese athlete is now a threat to both the striking and grappling departments.

In his post-event interview, Le gave a ton of credit to the incredible team that prepared him for this fight, which allowed him to further evolve as a martial artist.

The 38-year-old said:

“I didn’t really give a damn about getting taken down anymore, thanks to everybody around me, but I get to do stuff like that and come forward and bring the heat and do some damage. So we turn into a wrestler and cool, I get to do some awesome sh*t on the ground.”

It was the 50/50 and MidCity MMA representative’s sixth career victory in the world’s largest martial arts organization, which maintained his 100% finish rate, with five of his previous wins all coming via knockouts.

The only loss on Le’s record was the unanimous decision defeat by Tang Kai in August 2022, which dethroned him from being the undisputed king of the featherweight division.

This latest triumph over Freymanov has earned Le an outright world title shot against Tang Kai in a rematch that is expected to be scheduled soon.

North American fans can watch the ONE Fight Night 15 replay on demand via Amazon Prime Video.