ONE Championship featherweight king Thanh Le compares himself to Francis Ngannou, Israel Adesanya
- Vietnamese-American hopes a win over Garry Tonon at ONE: Lights Out will kick-start a busy 2022 that includes an additional title
- Le even willing to stay in Singapore for a spot on ONE X card on March 26 – ‘I want to put these hands on somebody else,’ he says
ONE Championship featherweight king Thanh Le has big plans for 2022 – starting with his imminent fight with Garry Tonon.
The 36-year-old Vietnamese-American will meet Tonon, a decorated submission grappler, in the main event of ONE: Lights Out on March 11 in Singapore.
He is not underestimating the task at hand.
“It’s going to be a difficult fight for the other guy to win, and I feel the same way,” Le (12-2) told the Post just over a week before his title defence. “That’s why I’m really excited to win this fight.”
The fight with the 30-year-old American Tonon (6-0) will be Le’s first since he won the featherweight title with a knockout win over Martin Nguyen in October 2020. Given the lay-off he has endured, he is eager to fight again as soon as possible if he gets by Tonon next Friday.
He’d even be willing to stay in Singapore for a spot on the ONE: X event on March 26, which will commemorate the Asian martial arts promotion’s 10-year anniversary.
“Yes, 100 per cent,” he said when asked about fighting on that card. “You can put me on the next day if you had to. I want a quick turnaround. I want to put these hands on somebody else.”