Thanh Le shoots down Garry Tonon’s call out Martin Nguyen interim title shot: “That title goes through me”

At ONE Fight Night 12, Garry Tonon produced his second consecutive victory while handing Shamil Gasanov the first loss of his career. Taking out the undefeated Russian with a patented heel hook submission that he is always dangerous with, Tonon had his next opponent already in mind.

With ONE featherweight champion Tang Kai currently injured, Tonon called for an interim title fight with the division’s former titleholder Martin Nguyen, who had a close eye on this match-up on July 14.

One man that sees the title picture differently is another former featherweight kingpin, Thanh Le. Le was set to face Tang Kai in a rematch from their fight at ONE 160 last year until the champ pulled out with an injury.

Having defended his belt against Garry Tonon during his title reign, Le took issue with his call out of Nguyen stating that if anyone is going to face ‘The Situ-Asian’ for an interim title, it should be him.

In an Instagram post, Le hit back at Garry Tonon after his post-fight interview with the South China Morning Post, making his claim that he deserves the fight with Nguyen more after his fight with the champion was canceled though he is still ready to fight:

“Hey @scmpmartialarts, you might wanna let @garrytonon know that I agree with him, @martinnguyenmma IS the man… but that title goes through me. Just bc @tangkaimma pulled out of our title fight, it doesn’t mean I’m hurt.”

ONE Fight Night 12 is available to watch back in full via the free event replay on Prime Video for North American viewers.