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ONE interim featherweight MMA world champion and former undisputed king Thanh Le of Vietnam and the United States has a huge fight on his hands this weekend, but he can’t stop thinking of the main event.
ONE 166: Qatar goes down this Friday at the Lusail Sports Arena in ONE Championship’s historic return to the Middle East. The event broadcasts live on Prime Video on March 1.
In the main event, reigning ONE middleweight MMA world champion Reinier de Ridder will defend his gold against former tormentor Russian mauler ‘Sladkiy’ Anatoly Malykhin.
Speaking to ONE Championship, Le shared his thoughts on the fight and made a prediction.
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Le stated:
“[Malykhin’s] a big dude, a powerful guy. That's tough. Now the weight drop affects him. It doesn't even have to be a dramatic effect. The weight drop affects him and they make it out of the first and RDR can, you know, get his skills in there and start dragging him down to the mat man, I think we know how that would go."
He added:
“So bad answer, but that's all. It's all about that weight drop. If he does it the right way, I think it could be a problem for RDR in the first round and the way he comes out hot. But anything past that, I think RDR drags them into deep water and can get it finished.”
Thanh Le to face Tang Kai for the undisputed featherweight MMA throne in co-main event of ONE 166: Qatar
Thanh Le will need to focus on his own fight instead of worrying about others if he wants to emerge from the rubble with the gold.
Le is set to face reigning ONE featherweight MMA world champion Tang Kai of China in the co-main event at ONE 166: Qatar.
It’s a rematch of their August 2022 encounter, when Tang took home a unanimous decision victory to take Le’s golden strap. Le has since won the interim version of the belt, and now the two are ready to unify the division.
ONE 166: Qatar broadcasts live on Friday, March 1, to existing Amazon Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada. Fans can catch all the action live and absolutely free. Stay tuned to Sportskeeda MMA for all the latest news and updates on ONE Championship.
