“It’s gotta be big” – Thanh Le only interested in high-profile fights at tailend of his career

Champion MMA fighter Thanh Le is excited to see that the featherweight division in ONE Championship is currently among the stacked lanes in the promotion. He said it goes well with his push to have only high-profile fights at this late stage of his illustrious career.

Currently the interim champion in the division, the 38-year-old American-Vietnamese martial artist basks in the many options he has for opponents in featherweight and even outside of it.

In an interview with ONE Championship, Thanh Le shared his thoughts on the field and where he sees his career at this stage, saying:

“So it's gotta be big. That's all I want is big, big fights for the rest of my career. Every single fight got to be big.”

Thanh Le is set for a huge fight this week at ONE 166: Qatar, where he will try to unify the ONE featherweight MMA belts in a title clash against reigning champion Tang Kai of China.

It is a rematch of their first encounter in August 2022, where Tang Kai edged out the 50/50/MidCity MMA standout by unanimous decision to become the new featherweight MMA king.

ONE 166 is the first-ever live on-ground event of ONE Championship in Qatar. It will take place at the Lusail Sports Arena and will be available to Amazon Prime Video subscribers in North America live and for free on Friday, March 1.

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Thanh Le seeks to build on impressive win over Ilya Freymanov at ONE 166: Qatar

Thanh Le bounced back in his previous fight after losing the ONE featherweight MMA world title. It is something he looks to build on when he returns to action this week in Qatar.

The veteran American-Vietnamese fighter fashioned out an impressive submission (heel hook) victory in the opening round over Russian sensation Ilya Freymanov in their showdown for the interim featherweight MMA world title in October last year.

It is an outcome that he looks to duplicate at ONE 166: Qatar on March 1, where he seeks to unify the ONE featherweight MMA world title belts in his clash with reigning divisional king Tang Kai.

The showdown is also a rematch of their first encounter in August 2022, where the Chinese fighter defeated then-world champion Thanh Le by unanimous decision.

In their scheduled re-engagement, Thanh Le vowed to have a different outcome, with him winning by an explosive finish, telling ONE Championship in an interview:

“I’ll be honest with you. If we make it out of the first round, I’ll be surprised. He’s going to sleep, and he’s going to sleep early.”

ONE 166 is ONE’s first-ever live on-ground event in Qatar, part of the promotion’s thrust to bring its world-class brand of martial arts action to more people in different parts of the world this year.