ONE Championship Featherweight Champion Thanh Le is set to defend his title at the upcoming ONE FC 160 event against Tang Kai.
We had the opportunity to speak to the 155-pound champion of the Singapore-based MMA promotion ahead of this epic bout on Friday 26th August 2022.
ONE 160 is the final event for the company before they join Amazon Prime for a major streaming deal in the United States, so we discussed this with the 155-pound champ as well as potential fights with UFC greats Charles Oliveira and Conor McGregor.
Here is what ONE Featherweight MMA champion Thanh Le had to say about the Amazon Prime deal and potential fights with Conor McGregor and Charles Oliveira.
Read More: ONE Championship 160: Fight Card, Date, UK Start Time, Live Stream and More
Image Credit: ONE Championship
Thanh Le on Tang Kai
Check out the first part of our interview with the ONE FC Featherweight champ here!
GMS: Both yourself and your opponent Tang Kai are undefeated in ONE Championship. Do you feel a different level of pressure when the narrative for a fight is that someone is getting their first loss?
Thanh Le: I've dealt with that in the past, at almost the worst time possible. At the time that it happened, I thought it was the worst time possible. And, you know, look at me now! You always hear these Instagram quotes and I hate it when people spit those out, but they're their truth. Failure isn't failure unless you stop, unless you quit, you continue on your journey and you're gonna have ups and downs, obviously.
Not all of us are able to just ride that uphill and leave with their 0 in the loss column. We've seen, what, one undefeated fighter, Khabib who retired on top with his 0 still or a Floyd Mayweather but, you know, we're gonna have ups and downs.
We've got to be able to bounce back and I think that's really what moulds you as a human, as a man, into what you want to become. And, you know, I'm always chasing that potential Thanh Le that takes advantage of every single opportunity and didn't squander any opportunity in front of him. I want to be that imaginary superhero version of myself and I'm trying to get the closest to that as possible.
Dealing with some of that stress and pressure of ‘oh, well, he's got 100% Finish rate is he going to go out there and try to make that little stretch and make that a little reach just to get the finish’ like, no, not at all. I'm not doing this for those reasons. If he gives me the opportunity? Absolutely, I will finish him. But if he's so disciplined that I can't crack that shell then I'm going to continue to win from the outside and do this part of my game and that part of my game and implement the different strategies that I have to end up winning the fight by decision, and that's fine.
Image Credit: ONE Championship
Co-Main Event
GMS: You’ve been featured in the main event once before for ONE Championship, do you feel more comfortable going back in combat having experience at the top of the card or is it just business as usual?
Thanh Le: Kind of piggybacking off of my last answer, I like to try to be as even keel as possible. I like to approach it as just two guys in a cage with our coaches and then that's all that really matters. But obviously, you can't ignore the other things, you have to accept them, and you have to be able to deal with them.
Being in the Main Event, I'll tell you, it's very exciting. It's nice to be able to be put in that single spotlight, to be the co-main event of this card. And I enjoy that, I enjoy the spotlight. I feel like I perform my best when I'm in those situations.
What's nice is coming up through the ranks and regional circuits and things like that you kind of get a little taste of that right? Your first fight ever you're as undercard as it gets, then you start getting up into the best of the prelims and then you graduate to like the mid-level cards and then you main event a regional card, and then boom, now we're at ONE and we're on the undercard, then we're on the main card, then we're headlining something.
[Having said that it] doesn't come naturally, I don't think it does for a lot of people. It definitely didn't come naturally to me.
I train my jujitsu and I train my striking, I train my mind and I focus on my mindset approach: positive self-talk and approaching the fight by trying to reduce stress and understanding how your mind and your body react to certain things. That’s really useful and that's a part of training that gets overlooked a little bit and I think that's something that can separate good from great.
Image Credit: ONE Championship
ONE FC on Amazon Prime
GMS: ONE 160 is the final event before the major deal with Amazon Prime kicks in. Do you feel some pressure knowing that if you win at 160 then your next fight will be featured on one of the biggest streaming services on the planet?
Thanh Le: That's what excites me the most. We're not setting up a deal to look like a money grab, this is just more accessible for a completely different set of fans that don't have immediate access and it's not in the best viewing times for them. Like this is such a big deal to be like, ‘hey, look Friday night? Tune in. It's going to be on prime time you just gotta go to prime TV, pull it up, and you're good.’
Obviously, the true fans who have done it before and kept an eye out for us have gone through the [ONE FC] app, you know and all these different streaming services to see it through YouTube or whatever.
But this is nice to be able to have a home for martial arts, at our new home and Friday night primetime in the future. Hopefully, I will be headlining one of these cards and being able to show off for our fans over here in the states and let them see what ONE is all about. And I think they're in for a really pleasant surprise!
Image Credit: ONE Championship
Charles Oliveira, Conor McGregor and Alexander Volkanovski
GMS: ONE Championship of course had a massive trade deal with the UFC in the past with Ben Askren heading over there and Demetrious Johnson coming to ONE FC. If you were able to bring over any 155-pound fighter to ONE FC to face you for the World Title, who would it be?
Thanh Le: So that's, that's an interesting question. Let's see. Let's see if I can break this down. We’re going to pick out of the 155 division, yeah? If we're gonna pick a 155er, man, you gotta go with the champ, obviously. It's an impossible trade because he’s holding the belt.
GMS: Technically, no one's holding that belt right now! Although Olveira really should still be considered the champion.
Thanh Le: Very good point, very good point! And I agree [that Oliveira is still the lightweight champion of the UFC]. And I think you always want the best for the company, the best for the fans and the best for the competition of the fighters. And I think that Oliveira is definitely one of the guys that has to happen if you're gonna pick.
If you're gonna ask me about the UFC Featherweight division? I will tell you the same, I want the champ (Alexander Volkanovski), and definitely some of the legends. The Max Holloways, the Jose Aldos…but you know, you want the champion, you want the current guy that is on top, you always want the best guys to come in.
GMS: I respect you for that because a lot of people who I’ve asked that question to, their instant answer is Conor McGregor
Thanh Le: I'm not chasing the biggest bag possible at all times. Or maybe I could pick up one of these personalities that sell fights a little better, but that's not me. I can only be me, I can only be genuine and I can only give you, you know, to the public and the fans who I am.
Because that's who I want to be, it represents who I am, it is who I chose to be as a man and that's what I want my kids and my family to see on TV, on the screen and in these interviews.
Like, this stuff right here? It lasts forever. The stuff you see in the ring lasts forever, because of the age that we're in, and I think those things are important to uphold a certain standard of integrity and honour and that's what's important to me.
That's not the dictating factor for a lot of guys. And look, I'm not knocking them as they're making a whole bunch of money. I'm still driving an ‘06 Honda Accord [laughs], so it's not a problem for me, I don't do this for the money grab.
I do this because I want to be the best mixed martial artist I could possibly be and get the best version of myself and fight the best guys. And I'm doing that, so I'm living the life!
GMS: Thank you so much for your time and good luck in your title fight at ONE 160!
Thanh Le: Thank you!
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