ONE 160: Thanh Le vows to expose Tang Kai

Bengaluru, July 29: ONE Featherweight World Champion Thanh Le has vowed to expose Tang Kai in the ONE 160: Ok vs. Lee II event scheduled to take place on August 26 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

For a while, Le has remained quiet despite the call-outs by top-ranked contender Kai. However, the Vietnamese-American competitor finally broken his silence, and he wants to let his skill set speak for itself when they meet inside the Circle.

Le defends his ONE World Title against the Chinese competitor on the main card of ONE 160. While they are both known for their devastating punching power, the reigning featherweight king feels that his striking is a notch above his challenger.

"[Tang] has a lot of the same strengths I do. He's sharp. His movement is good and developed. His evasiveness is pretty good when he wants to be slick," Le said.

"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, some of the things that I do well, he does well also, but I do them better."

Tang is coming into their ONE World Title fight with a ton of confidence because he has won his last nine bouts - his last three via knockout.

However, there isn't a sense of caution on Le's end because landing crushing strikes on opponents is his specialty. The 50/50 and MidCity MMA representative knows he has the edge in the stand-up game.

"If [Tang] wants to be a sniper and a ninja from the outside, that's my game. He dies ten times out of 10. If he wants to go in there and mix it up and make it hectic and crazy, then that is his best chance," Le said.

"But I'm good at that stuff too, so that's going to be a problem for him as well. If I hit him, he's going to sleep."

With 24 knockouts in their 27 combined victories, both Le and Tang would prefer to maintain their showdown on the feet. When that happens, the current ONE Featherweight World Champion wants to make his foe pay for his aggressiveness.

"Because he's a younger, inexperienced guy trying to go and get this belt that means so much to him, he's going to act like it, and that's what we're going to take advantage of," Le said.

"[My prediction is] we go into the fourth round, he throws that two-three combo and misses. I come up on the backside, and he catches a right hand down the pipe and goes to sleep, fourth round."

Aside from the fight between Le and Tang, ONE 160 will also feature the rematch between ONE Lightweight World Champion Ok Rae Yoon and former divisional king Christian Lee.

Source: Media Release