Thanh Le says he’s more grateful for his losses than his wins: “I’ve learned so much from those, it’s crazy”

Thanh Le shared wisdom on the benefits of losing a fight to evolve as a martial artist.

Le made his ONE Championship debut in May 2019. After winning his first three fights, all by KO/TKO, the Vietnamese-American dethroned Martin Nguyen with a third-round knockout to become the ONE featherweight MMA world champion.

He defended his throne once, a 56-second knockout against Garry Tonon, before Tang Kai ended his run in August 2022.

On Friday, October 6, Le returns to action in an intriguing matchup against Ilya Freymanov for the ONE interim featherweight MMA world title, which takes place inside Lumpinee Boxing Stadium for the ONE Fight Night 15 main event.

Ahead of his significant opportunity, the 38-year-old former world champion participated in an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit. One of the many questions asked fans was the following:

“What fight was the most impactful to your career and why?”

Thanh Le responded by saying:

“I think I’d say my losses… I am so grateful for those experiences and lessons learned. BECAUSE my goal is to be the best martial artist I could possibly be, those have to be the most impactful, bc I’ve learned so much from those, it’s crazy. This isn’t to sound profound and martial artsy… I am honestly TRULY grateful for those experiences”

Reddit comment

Thanh Le is locked in on his opportunity to regain ONE gold. It’ll be easier said than done as he takes on Ilya Freymanov, a proven dangerous opponent for anyone in the division.

Freymanov fought under the ONE banner for the first time in September 2022, defeating Martin Nguyen with a first-round knockout. He continued building momentum in his last fight, a first-round submission win against Shinechagtga Zoltsetseg.

Thanh Le vs. Ilya Freymanov will determine who gets partial ownership of Tang Kai’s throne. Tang suffered a severe knee injury, which pulled him out of his first world title defense earlier this year. Once the Chinese world champion returns, he’s expected to fight the winner of the ONE Fight Night 15 main event.

ONE Fight Night 15 can be seen live and for free by North American viewers with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription.