Tag: Thanh Le

The announcement back in February that Vietnam had legalized MMA may not have scored significant media headlines, but for two of ONE Championship’s leading featherweights, it was huge news.

ONE Featherweight Champion Martin Nguyen and his divisional rival Thanh Le — next in line for a shot at Nguyen’s title— are known for their striking prowess. They also share Vietnamese heritage; Nguyen is Vietnamese-Australian while Le is Vietnamese-American.

For Le, the chance to compete in Vietnam for the title would be a career highlight.

 “[There are] not many times in your life that are you able to say that this is a dream come true, people may say it a lot but not many times in your lifespan will you be able to truly believe that,” Le said speaking with LowKick MMA 

“I think fighting for the belt for ONE Championship [is] one of those moments in my life, and doing that in Vietnam would magnify that by a thousand times.

  “It would definitely be a dream come true and [to] be able to fight in front of my Vietnamese fans and for Martin to fight in front his Vietnamese fans I mean that is an amazing setup you could not ask for a better movie ending. “

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, ONE has been on hold since the end of February, and it has only been this week that Singapore — where the promotion is based — has begun easing restrictions. 

When ONE does get the green light to return, it will likely want its most prominent stars back in action ASAP. The Nguyen-Le title fight is a sure-fire crowd-pleaser, and one of the biggest fights the promotion could make.

If it took place in Singapore, it would attract plenty of attention. However, if it took place in Vietnam — a country with an impressive record of battling the coronavirus — then ONE has the chance to create a special sporting moment, one that could capture the imagination of an entire nation.

If Le gets the choice, he knows which option he would prefer.

“If it were up to me, I would wait a little bit, and we would fight in Vietnam, but nothing is more important than getting the opportunity to fight for the belt,’ he exclaimed.

“So if that would sacrifice something like that, obviously I would fight in the bathroom, but you know, but if all things lined up, that would be great. I would wait a little extra time to fight in Vietnam.

Le has experienced a dream run since making his promotional debut last May. Three victories from three fights have him one win away from the featherweight belt. He is currently waiting on the exact date and location of his title shot, but moving forward, the 34-year-old also has ambitions beyond conquering his current weight class.

“I fight, win the title, defend the title all that good stuff and maybe take a trip to lightweight and see how that goes,” Le says.

“Obviously, I’ll never look past Martin and the featherweight division because they have a ton of guys I need to clear out before we can do any of that, but that’s definitely in the future.”

For now, Le is forced to play the waiting game, but as soon as ONE is given the all-clear to hold events, the company’s matchmakers should expect to hear the Louisiana native calling about the exact when and the where of his title fight.

And if it does takes place in Vietnam, it would make the bout that much the sweeter.

Since arriving at ONE Championship, Louisiana’s Thanh Le has lived up to his reputation as an electric striker. Le’s three appearances inside the ONE Circle have resulted in highlight-reel victories for the former LFA Lightweight Champion and have earned him a shot at Martin Nguyen’s featherweight title.

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has forced ONE to shut up shop temporarily, but the promotion is aiming to be up and running shortly. The company has a backlog of fights waiting to take place, but arguably the most anticipated is the Nguyen-Le clash.

Nguyen’s relocation to Sandford MMA, where he trains under the highly-regarded Henri Hooft, has seen the 31-year-old reach new heights as a martial artist, and it’s the Nguyen-Hofft dynamic that has Le’s competitive juices flowing.

“Basically, I’ve got [two] matchups me vs. Martin and me vs. Coach Hooft. So we will see how that plays out,” Le said when speaking to LowKickMMA.

“It’s really easy to get excited for a team like that. In football, you have the Brady-Belichick thing that gets guys amped up. You know that those two guys are going to get everybodys best when they look at the schedule, and they see their matchup with those guys. That’s the week they are preparing for, that’s the leadup that’s the apex.

“It’s really cool to go against a team like that. They obviously work well together, both guys do their thing extremely well, so it’s cool to see how that has matured and evolved as fighter-coach get closer and closer. It’s going to be interesting.”

Le’s promotional debut saw him paired with Russian submission artist Yusup Saadulaev. In the opening stanza, Saadulaev — who is currently ranked No.3 in the ONE bantamweight division — took Le to the ground but found himself frustrated by the Vietnamese-American before being stopped in the second.

It was an impressive performance from Le. One which demonstrated that behind all his stand-up pyrotechnics is a well-rounded fighter capable of mixing it up wherever the fight lands. Nguyen will be aware of Le’s strengths and will no doubt be working on a gameplan to unsettle the latest challenger to his throne.

“I see it [the fight] going a couple of ways,” Le said when talking about his matchup with Nguyen.

“I know Martin is confident in his ground-game and his wrestling and obviously his striking and his knockout power. I think they hang their hat on having that right hand connect. What I think is going to throw a little bit of a loop for them is that I am not very easy to hit.

“We do a lot of movement a lot of playing at different ranges. I think they are going to come and try and see if that right hand can land, but when that doesn’t connect right away, and I start playing with different ranges, I am interested to see where they decide to go and that’s something my coaches and I are keeping close to the chest.

“If he wants to try and bring some pressure and tire us out and attack us in the later rounds, awesome. If he wants to bring it to the ground and see what we have there, we 100 percent welcome that. It’s a pretty cool dynamic.”

Le has the name of his next opponent, now all he is waiting on is the date and location of the fight. The fact that Singapore has started lifting its restrictions means that hopefully he will not be waiting too much longer.