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Former divisional king Thanh Le is out to prove he is aging like fine wine when he rematches the reigning ONE featherweight MMA world champion Tang Kai in the co-main event of ONE 166: Qatar this Friday, March 1.
Le and Kai are part of the ground-breaking event of ONE Championship in Qatar for the promotion’s inaugural on-ground card, and the Lusail Sports Arena will host it.
Before he tries to reclaim his world title, the Vietnamese-American superstar spoke to Sportskeeda MMA about his age and current stage of his pro career, claiming that he is still in tip-top shape despite being almost 40 years of age.
Thanh Le stated:
“I'm old. I'm almost 40 but I’m beating all these 20-year-olds at the gym. We got to keep it up, you know, age is just a number like we always say. But I mean, we've seen guys, 40 to 45, do it at an extremely high level at a high age. None of that matters. When the performance starts to go downhill then we're old. But I feel good, yeah.”
The 50/50 and MidCity MMA representative was able to prove this when he scored a quick and surprising 62-second submission win against Ilya Freymanov during his last fight in October 2023 at ONE Fight Night 15.
That victory not only guaranteed him an outright rematch with his former tormentor but also earned him the ONE interim featherweight MMA world title.
Thanh Le promises that his 100 percent finish rate will be intact in Qatar
In the recent press conference before the fight, Le promised everyone that his 100 percent finish rate will remain perfect after the fight with the Sunkin International Fight Club representative because he vowed to get the victory by either TKO/KO or submission.
Additionally, Le claims that he has mastered the gentle art and proclaims himself a specialist because of his stunning triumph over Freymanov. He hopes to fully utilize this in the rematch with Kai.
ONE 166: Qatar is available live and for free to all Prime Video subscribers in North America on March 1.
