ONE Championship: Tang Kai ‘fully confident’ he will beat Thanh Le to become China’s first male MMA champion
- Shaoyang’s Tang will challenge Vietnamese-American Le for featherweight title at ONE 160 on August 26 in Singapore
- The 26-year-old sees champ as his ‘toughest fight’ but vows to take the title back to China ‘for the whole community’
Tang Kai will be fighting for more than just a belt when he challenges Thanh Le for the ONE Championship featherweight title next month.
The 26-year-old Shaoyang native, who trains out of Tiger Muay Thai in Phuket, Thailand, is also on a mission to become the first male MMA champion from China.
“I’ll be so excited if I get this victory,” Tang said during a recent media conference call for his fight with Le, which headlines the ONE 160 event on August 26 in Singapore. “If that happens, I’ll be the first male mixed martial arts world champion from China and that means a lot for me and for the whole community.”
Tang’s fight with Le will mark his first bid for a ONE Championship title, but he claims to have had his eye on the champion for a long time.
Even before his March knockout of South Korea’s Kim Jae-woong – the victory that earned him a title shot – Tang says he was preparing for Le.
“I’ve been training for this fight to happen for a very long time,” he said. “Even when I fought my previous opponent I was actually preparing for Thanh Le.”
“I started to think about being the champion when I was getting better and better and starting to fight tough opponents. I only dream about things that match my abilities.”
