“All my fights have ended early” - Thanh Le warns Tang Kai of his finishing ability

ONE featherweight world champion Thanh Le recently spoke to Combat Press about his upcoming bout with Tang Kai at ONE 160. The heavy-handed world champion was very transparent about his gameplan against his similarly powerful foe.

In the interview, Thanh Le said:

"If he doesn’t give me the opportunity to counter, I think you guys will see a little bit of a different approach from me towards the second or third round. But it just depends on his approach to the fight in the first. I’ve heard him mention that he wanted to get me out of there early, so we’ll see how that goes. I think that’s really [what] my strongest attribute is: if you come at me early in the fight, all my fights have ended early. So, we’ll see if he plays it patient or if he comes out guns-a-blazing. We’re definitely ready for both."

Once again, despite being confident in his words, Le is always transparent and humble in his assessments. There's usually merit to what he says, as he tends to base his predictions on hard facts.

If you want to read the full interview with Combat Press, click here.

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Thanh Le only needed 56 seconds to finish Garry Tonon

Speaking of finishing abilities, Le finished jiu-jitsu icon Garry Tonon in just 56 seconds in his most recent world title defense. The bout happened last March at ONE: Lights Out.

Describing how he felt about the outcome of his bout with Tonon, Le said:

“I’m happy with the way we were in probably one of his best his top two-to-three spots, you know, besides mount and back. It was definitely a top-three spot for him, and I still ended up defending well. Getting the finish, I was really excited about that, but I was glad I got to show a little bit of all the time I put into my grappling that nobody has ever seen, which is kind of cool. I just still have that in the back pocket, so I think it was a surprise for him. I think, you know, he wasn’t aware of how well-versed I am in grappling and on the ground. So, I thought it was really cool that the time that it came out was when it really mattered.”

Tonon, being one of the best leglock specialists in submission grappling, found great success with it in MMA. Thanh Le, however, worked with other leglock specialists in preparation for 'The Lion Killer'.

The plan worked to perfection as the Vietnamese-American world champion was able to fend off Tonon's leglock entanglement enough to land a knockout blow.

Watch the full fight between Le and Tonon here: