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After scooping the interim crown last year, top-ranked featherweight MMA contender Thanh Le returns to the thick of action in a historic night for ONE Championship in Qatar.
The 38-year-old unifies his strap against reigning divisional king Tang Kai in a redo of their ONE 160 contest, where the Chinese superstar pipped the American-Vietnamese talent to the 26-pound gold after five intense rounds inside the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
While he is pumped for the opportunity to leave a mark on the global stage, the 50/50 and MidCity MMA representative is beyond thrilled to get the chance to star in one of three world titles set for ONE 166, the promotion’s debut show in the country, on March 1.
Speaking to ONE Championship in a pre-fight interview, Thanh Le said:
“I'm pretty damn excited about going over there. I've never been, so that's part number one [of my excitement]. Let's go have an adventure and see a new place and experience that with my family and stuff.”
He added:
“For part two, like, it's cool to see. I want to experience those fans and see how they react, and, you know, it's awesome seeing the Western side and then going into Asia and seeing that. And how the crowd is and the energy of the fans. I'm super excited.”
Thanh Le needs to execute revenge over Tang Kai in Qatar
Of course, unifying the featherweight MMA world title will make his trip to the Middle East far sweeter. Avenging his sole promotional loss to Tang Kai will follow suit.
Across seven fights under the ONE banner, the Taekwondo specialist has gone six finishes from as many wins, including huge knockouts against Martin Nguyen and Garry Tonon.
He looked simply unstoppable until Tang Kai ruined his perfect slate and took him to a decision for the first time in his ten-year career.
Now that the time for talking is nearly over, Thanh Le vows to do everything he can to unify the gold and leave ONE 166: Qatar as the undisputed featherweight MMA king.
The entire event will be available to North American fans with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription on March 1.
