ONE Championship star Tang Kai is not someone to be taken lightly. The Chinese dynamo has an impressive 85% finish rate and all have come by knockout. That's serious power.
What's scarier is that Tang can put anyone away using a variety of weapons, not just one. He's not a Dan Henderson type who relies heavily on the H-Bomb in his right hand. Tang can use his hands, elbows, knees and kicks to shut your lights off.
His 2019 fight against Korea's Sung Jong Lee is a perfect example of Tang's otherworldly knockout power. While he was not warding off Sung's submission attacks, Tang was connecting with hard shots from both in the pocket and outside of range.
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The second round saw a turning point. After analyzing Sung's tendencies, Tang seemingly noticed that the Korean tends to dip his head every time he braces for an exchange. This piece of information proved valuable as Tang launched a perfectly-timed head kick that connected on Sung's temple.
Sung was able to partially block the kick but it was not enough to keep him off the mat.
Watch the full fight here:
Tang Kai fights another Korean in ONE Championship: Only The Brave
On January 28th, at ONE Championship: Only The Brave, Tang Kai makes his return to face another Korean warrior in Kim Jae Woong. The two have had words for each other and are not going to be friendly once they enter the cage.
Kim Jae Woong, being the third Korean to face Tang in the circle, is keen to break the losing streak of his countrymen by stopping the Chinese. Though he has respect for Tang's innate power, he points out the Shanghai native's fundamentalist style and lack of competitive ground game. In an interview with ONE Championship, the Korean has this to say about his foe:
“Tang Kai is not good at jiu-jitsu or wrestling from what I observed. I think his only core skill is striking so I’m guessing that’s all he will go for... From a glance, I think he is normally fixated on one thing or sticks to the basics. He’s not really a fighter who has a lot of skills to offer. He’s just a fighter who really has his fundamentals ingrained in him.”
Look to see if Tang can complete a tri-fecta against Korean fighters or if Kim can snap the Chinese killer's dominant winning streak. Tune in on January 28 to watch the action and drama unfold.