‘I Was No. 1, I Still Am No. 1, and I Always Will Be No. 1’- Thanh Le Proclaims to Be the Best Fighter in the World After First Round KO of Garry Tonon

Thanh Le made the first successful defense of his ONE World Championship with a win over grappling wizard Garry Tonon. Furthermore, the Featherweight King did so in just 56 seconds.

The main event of ONE: LIGHTS OUT saw the taekwondo specialist brutally knockout ‘The Lion Killer’.

After the fight, the 50/50 and MidCity MMA representative reflected where he stands in the pound-for-pound rankings.

Le said, “This is gonna sound arrogant or whatever, but you’ve got to believe in yourself or you’ll never get one of these things [world championships], right.”

“Before I started with the organization [ONE Championship], I was number 1, in my head. That’s where you gotta be if you’re gonna be a fighter that’s going to reach a high level and do crazy things in this sport.”

“So, I was number 1, I still am number 1, and I always will be number 1 until someone proves me wrong,” concluded Le.

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Also, the Featherweight king conveyed that he doesn’t pay much attention to the pound-for-pound rankings. Le is undefeated inside the ONE Circle and has never gone to scorecards.

Thanh Le shuts down an old notion

A highly regarded belief in sports has been – You simply aren’t considered a real champion until you have defended your title successfully. However, Thanh Le does not agree with it.

When asked whether he feels like a champion, now that he has defended his belt for the first time, Le said, “I felt like a world champion, before I was a world champion.”

Le further offered that when someone beats a champion, who has done hard work to achieve that status, one should be considered the champion. Thus, Le suggested that he felt like a World Champion, after beating a tough opponent like Martin Nguyen for the ONE Featherweight championship.

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Were you impressed by Thanh Le’s performance at ONE: LIGHTS OUT? Let us know in the comments.