Featherweight MMA king Tang Kai back at Phuket’s Tiger Muay Thai in preparation for unification bout against Thanh Le

There is nothing more exciting for combat sports fans to see than a ONE world championship being defended, let alone a world title unification matchup.

Chinese superstar Tang Kai is back to full health and he’s ready to take on Thanh Le for the undisputed ONE featherweight MMA world title sometime this year.

Both fighters are quite familiar with each other as Tang was the one responsible for ending Le’s two-year run as world champion back at ONE 160 on August 26, 2022.

The rematch was originally scheduled to take place on July 15 of last year at ONE Fight Night 12, but Tang was forced to withdraw due to a knee injury with Le even checking up on Tang’s status.

Tang, however, appears ready for action and is training with the famed Tiger Muay Thai gym in Phuket, Thailand, which houses standouts such as two-division ONE MMA world champion Anatoly Malykhin and ONE bantamweight MMA world champion Fabricio Andrade.

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First-ever two-division ONE world champion unsure of Tang Kai’s chances of winning

It certainly will not be an easy task for Tang as Le definitely wants his status atop the mountain back, and there could be a couple of factors working in the Vietnamese-American’s favor.

According to Martin Nguyen, Tang could very well be dealing with ring rust as he has not fought since taking the gold from Le back in 2022.

Additionally, the former ONE featherweight and lightweight MMA world champion is concerned for Tang as his aggression might not work against the more technical striker in Le.