Thanh Le Warns Tang Kai, Who Wants to Be First Chinese World Champion for ONE Championship – “You’ll See the Gap Between Good and Elite”

ONE Featherweight World Champion Thanh Le isn’t looking past the skills that his upcoming opponent, Tang Kai, will be bringing to the Circle when the two stars go head-to-head for the World Title in the co-main event of ONE 160: Ok vs. Lee II.

The Vietnamese-American superstar understands how fluid the top-ranked featherweight contender is across all areas of his game, and he expects him to turn up the heat in Singapore on August 26.

“He has a lot of the same strengths I do. Sharp, has good feet movement, you know, his movement is good and developed, and he moves well. His evasiveness is pretty good when he wants to be, you know, slick on that side of things,” Le noted.

“If he wants to go in there and mix it up and make it hectic and crazy, then that is his best chance.”

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Both athletes arrive into this fight with their undefeated run in the promotion at stake. Le has amassed five consecutive knockouts while Tang is on a six-match winning streak in the Circle.

Thanh Le believes he has a better overall game

The World Champion has paid close attention to his rival’s rise to the top of the featherweight division. And although he expects the Chinese knockout specialist to push him through his paces, he warned that he is better than his foe in all the right places.

“If he wants to be a sniper and a ninja from the outside, that’s my game. He dies 10 times out of 10,” Le asserted.

“He’ll engage when he thinks he has the advantage, and he’ll bail when he thinks he is on even footing or in a negative position. So, you know, some of the things that I do well, he does well also, but I do them better.”

In a perfect world, Le would love to earn another quick knockout to extend his reign at the top of the featherweight mountain. But he knows it might not be as straightforward against a fighter of Tang’s caliber.

Still, he doesn’t see any way his opposite number can leave the Circle with the divisional gold, and he plans to be sharp on the feet and the canvas to secure the win.

“If he wants to whip out some of his wrestling, I think I’ll finish him on the ground, and if he wants to keep this standing, then I think you’ll see the gap between good and elite,” Le shared.

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