ONE 160: Thanh Le eager to show off Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu skills

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Bengaluru, August 22: ONE Featherweight World Champion Thanh Le is keen to show off his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu skills when he faces Tang Kai in ONE 160: Ok vs. Lee II this Friday (August 26) at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore.

Le has studied many martial arts over the years, but one that has been more rewarding than the rest is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He earned his black belt in June, just in time for his title defense against Kai.

It may come as a surprise to fans who associate Le with being a skilled knockout artist. After all, the featherweight has earned 12 of his last 13 wins through his striking, but the Vietnamese-American promises he has more tricks up his sleeve for his challenger.

"Obviously, I'm a striker dude in the cage, but I'm a jiu-jitsu guy, too," he said.

"The last two fights that I've had in ONE were for the belt, so I definitely hung my hat on my strong suit to try to capitalize there. And the last matchup was against one of the best grapplers on the planet (Garry Tonon). It might not be the best situation to dive into grappling with him the entire fight, right?

"But who knows, maybe we get a little grappling in on this fight. Let's see [Tang] throw one of those double-legs, and see how it ends up for him."

Le will be defending his World Title for the second time this year. His first defense earned him a superb KO versus Garry "The Lion Killer" Tonon at ONE: Lights Out in March.

Rarely does the World Champion find himself on the canvas. The majority of his fights stay standing until he delivers his signature knockout.

However, Tang has won his last six fights, the most recent coming in March at ONE X against "The Fighting God" Kim Jae Woong.

Even though Tang and the two-time World Champion have a lot in common in terms of their striking sets, Le is confident that his foe is not ready for the challenge that awaits him.

The KO king promises fans that his grappling talents will most certainly be on display, owing to his love of the sport.

"You can't fight without knowing jiu-jitsu - you're just going to get mauled. [When I started, I was] like, 'Okay, let's learn this art, this thing that people want us to do.' And then, just like I knew I would, I fell in love with it because it's a wonderful martial art," he said.

Fans won't have to wait long to see Thanh Le battle inside the Circle, as ONE 160: Ok vs. Lee II will be shown live on Friday (August 26) via Disney+ Hotstar and Star Sports Select 1, starting with the lead card at 4 PM IST followed by the main card at 6 PM IST.

Source: Media Release